Slow Burn
by 13th Key
Summary: Starrk is left alive after his fight. He sets off to kill Aizen only to have him killed before he can get into the fight. He now has to get his lost powers back, deal with living in the real world, and evade the forces of the Soul Society, all while trying to sort out his growing feelings for his former comrade.
1. Chapter 1: Escape to Pain

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach in any way at all.**

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My arms and chest were exploding with pain. My chest felt like it was going to implode from both the physical pain of my wounds and from the loss of Lilynette. My blood was seeping onto the rubble on which I lay. I felt tired, far more tired than usual. I could still hear my last remaining comrade fighting.

"This has gone on long enough." I had tunnel vision now. Every sound echoed around me. I could hear Aizen's footsteps, the weight of the power he held back. The anger and contempt in his heart was reflected in every aspect of him. The way he walked, the very sound of his footsteps. I could see it now. I had been blinded by my gratitude. He was the man who helped ease the pain of my loneliness. This faith and devotion was gone completely now.  
I felt the strike against Halibel. It burned, twisted and killed another part of my soul. It was quickly replaced by something new, something I had only just truly started to feel today. Hatred. For the man, for his principles, for his deception. From the ground he touched to the earth he polluted with his presence. I had never much cared for Baraggan, but he was a powerful ally and an asset to Aizen's goal, having power, knowledge, loyal followers and experience made him a good ally to have in the throes of the constant power struggle of Las Noches. However, Halibel was different. Unlike Baraggan, who demanded respect from others, she got her respect from actions. She was one of the few people who would let me laze about in our free time instead of constantly training to the ground like the rest. She was tolerant if you gave her space and showed no disrespect to her or her fraccion.

To see him stand there calmly and even willingly kill a valuable ally disgusted me to no end. He lead us here. He knew what was going to happen. He had never been wrong before, he was a planner, one who made it his business to make things go in accordance to his ways. He made us engines of death, tools for his own amusement and personal gain. We were killers of the killed, transformed and given the purpose of killing those that have yet to be killed.

I was too angry to take my final sleep. I was too scared of being alone to pass on. I closed my eyes and focused.

" _My regenerative abilities weren't the best, but given the low number of injuries I have, if I do this right and if I'm lucky, I could survive this_ ," I thought. I started diverting all my reiatsu to heal my wounds, eventually reverting back to my unreleased form.

After a small pep talk and a whole world of pain I picked myself up from the rubble of the house had been lying in. My chest hurt like hell and arm had a nasty cut on the outside. I started to walk and immediately regretted that decision. I had nearly forgotten the stab wound in my foot. I looked around and limped to the living room, in search for a tall floor lamp. My efforts were rewarded when I found my prize. I ripped off the land shade, unscrewed the bulb, ripped off the power cord and took off the base, making it into a glorified walking stick. I steadily made my way to the door and went outside.

I looked up to see the captains of the Soul Society going up against Aizen, Gin and Tousen. I ignored the chaos and rage of war in the sky above and started my march towards the area where Halibel was cut down.

" _Oh, how I hate pain_ ," I lamented in the privacy of my mind. Each step was agony. I could only divert so much of my regenerative power to my foot, if I focused on it too much I would start bleeding from my more severe wounds. I could barely stop the bleeding. I started a cadence in my head for each mind-numbingly painful step.

" _One… Two… Three… One… Two… Three…_ " I thought. Over and over again. I couldn't count how many times I thought that. How many times my foot exploded with pain. How my chest felt like it was going to burst and implode all at once. I eventually started to feel water on the ground. I was getting close. The water stung the gash in my foot, increasing the pain tenfold. I started to shiver violently from the low temperature of the water, it was starting to rise as I got to the epicenter of the destruction. By now it was almost up to my knee. I continued my dead man's march, groaning and griping about it and every step I took. My legs started shaking I felt the water creep upwards on my body, slowly stinging wounds I didn't even realise I had. Even now I have no clue how I found the strength to walk, let alone practically come back from death's embrace on my own.

Broken buildings surrounded me as far as my eyes could see. In the aftermath of the savage battle, I found a sort of arcane, dark and instinctual beauty in the scene before me. I stopped and gawked at the destruction, the water now reaching my waist. The area looked as if Ragnarok had come and unleashed it full fury upon the world. The water was calm and still, reflecting the azure sky above. It looked as if this place was connected to the heavens. It felt… sacred. I couldn't hear the destruction behind me. It was silent and still. Every so often I'd see and outcropping of rubble from the battle that took place here. I went and waded to the nearest one and painfully climbed on top of it. I took a moment to inspect myself. The gash in my arm was almost healed. I smiled grimly," I _f that captain hadn't made such clean cuts, I'd probably be in a lot worse pain right now._ " My foot was also faring better, though because of my pulling away from his sword, I made the slash tear off more flesh, making it harder to heal.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They all belong to Tite Kubo. I make no profit from doing this

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I snapped out of my self examination when I felt it. It was Halibel's reiatsu.

" _She must have also started regenerating,_ " I thought. I looked towards the place where her energy was coming from, it appeared she was near the heart of the former urban area of the town. I sighed,"I'm going to have to keep walking. I don't have the strength necessary for sonido yet. This is going to be a long walk."

I slowly climbed down from my pedestal of rubble and continued my cantankerous, spite-filled walk to find Halibel.

It was getting harder to keep my footing in the water. The uneven terrain and my shaking legs were a perfect match for failure. It was taking more energy to move the pole in my hands than to move my legs. The thought of just swimming ran across my mind, but I decided against it seeing as how then all my wounds would be submerged under the water. Judging from the pain from the ones on my legs, I would probably black out from the pain the cuts in my chest would give me.

The walk was boring and hellish. It frustrated me that the one time I wanted to have my strength was the time when it abandoned me. I walked for what felt like hours. My breath burned in my lungs and after exhaling I would find myself nearly blacking out.

Then things went from hellish to absolute hell. My pole slipped, making me lose my balance. As I tumbled face first into the water I screamed with the voices of the damned as pain wracked my body. My chest exploded, my arm was alight with freezing pain, the pain in my leg intensified to heights I had yet to feel in my life. I lost control of my reiatsu as I clawed and struggled fruitlessly in the water. My energy went out of control, breaking the walls of building adjacent to me and pushing all the water that was surrounding me away. The brief moment of relief was soon gone as the water swept back in at me with more force, dragging me under and slamming me to the ground. Though my bones ached, though my mind was shattered, though I was nearly out of energy I stood up again. I shivered from the cool air and the water on my skin and in my hair. I was bleeding again, not as severely but still enough that if left unattended I would be endangering my existence.

I took a moment and concentrated. I had barely any reiatsu left. I was too weak to go into my released state and be healed completely. I put all my remaining energy into regeneration. If I was attacked now I would be dead. I continued my march towards death. I didn't want to die alone. To have all my dreams and ambitions lost to the wind. I still had things to do, things to experience, dreams to have, naps to sleep.

"This is without a doubt, the worst day ever," I groaned,"First I have to fight those two captains, then those masked shinigami, Lilynette died, and now I'm on the verge of death. What a pain… Why couldn't I have just slept in?"

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 **(A/N:) Thank you all for reading. Please leave reviews, this is my first fic so they are much appreciated. I'll try to update bi-weekly if possible. You marvelous people have a wonderful day.**


	2. Chapter 2: More Pain

I was closing in on Halibel's reiatsu. I stood on a pile of rubble barely rising out of the water. I was outside of a wrecked parking garage, water surrounding it. It was in a clearing with entrances on all sides. The water in this section was the deepest in the city, at about ten feet. The first floor of the garage was almost completely submerged. The sides of the building had several holes in them from the shrapnel of the fight that took place around it.

Getting into the building would be the most painful part. There were no nearby entrances. I could swim underwater into an entrance, however the pain could make me lose my concentration again and I didn't know if I could hold my breath or dive deep enough to do so. I looked all around the side I was on. The nearest entrance was a floor above me, it had many slim pipes sticking out of it and it looked as if parts were about to crack away and fall off the building.

"Beggars can't be choosers," I said aloud,"Besides, I don't have time to waste." While Halibel had initiated the regeneration process, she too could not use instant regeneration like Ulquiorra. She could only hold off the bleeding for so long. While I had received more injuries, mine being relatively deep and cleanly cut, I could heal them because of the smaller surface area. Halibel had only received one major wound from what I could tell when I would check on her and Baraggan's fights in the free moments of my own fight. However her wound was from Aizen when she had lowered her guard. He would make sure to have the wound be as complex to heal as a single slash could be.

I focused my gaze upon the entrance above. I only had one shot at this. If I fell I would lose control of my reiatsu and drown. I started re-routing my reiatsu to use sonido. My wounds started to bleed again. My arm had nearly healed and was now only a small cut. My foot was almost good however because of the abuse of the walk while trying to heal, it still was pretty far behind in its progress. The stab wound I received when that captain ran me through was going pretty well. I had healed it from the center, leaving two cuts; one on my back and one in front. While still severe, at least not you couldn't slide a hand cleanly through me. As for his finishing blow, it still bled profusely.

I took a stance, it was just me and that opening. Nothing else mattered except getting into this garage. My blood started staining my shirt. I started sweating and shaking violently. I took a moment and reeled my body into control. I concentrated, putting as much power as I could afford to expend into this one movement, and then I released it. Time went in slow motion. I was slowly moving toward the opening. My power was fading fast. As I reached the bottom-most pipe, I could no longer afford to expend the energy. Time spend back up, gravity reasserted its dominance and I found that I was now in a desperate battle with gravity, the pipe and my many injuries. I held onto that pipe with a grip a vice would be jealous of. My arms burned with an inferno I had long forgotten until this day. My chest felt like it was ripping in two which wouldn't surprise me given my luck today. I grabbed on the ledge and slowly hoisted myself up onto the unstable ledge of the garage and quickly jumped off so as to not fall of.

The inside of the garage was dark and in ruin. pieces of it were crumbling and dust rained down from the ceiling at the tiniest movement. Several support columns were shattered beyond repair, all that was left were piles of dust.

"What a wreck. It looks like this place could come down at any moment," I looked around more looking for more structural weaknesses that I would need to be weary of. I found far too many, the floor was ready to collapse in three places, two of which were on the path to the next floor. The ceiling looked ready to give way in one particularly large section in the middle of the room, narrowing my my path to a slow, steady one with more hazards than would have been prefered.

"Why is it that a person tries to play hero, the universe goes against them," I griped, "From the look of it when I was outside there are two more floors. Given the building is this bad near the base, it should really be a wreck on the top."

I slowly shimmied to the floor above and found that my prediction was correct. The massive area that looked like it was going to cave in on me below, was now directly between me and the entrance to the next floor. It was about forty-five feet in diameter, stretching all the way across the floor, leaving almost no area untouched. I looked around desperately trying to find some someway around it. Then I saw my golden opportunity.

"I could probably use the chain-link fence to climb around the unstable floor. The only question is my body ready for this after that stunt with the pipes outside," I said, glancing at my arms. Either way I had to try.

It was a slow and arduous effort. I had to be careful with the placement of my hands and feet. If I were to put my weight on any old spot, the pressure could set off a chain reaction that could result in the complete collapse of not only this floor, but possibly the entire building. My eyes strained in the dark to see where I was going and to make no mistakes. eventually I made it to the ramp that would bring me to the next floor.

I was panting hard. My legs felt as if they were going to collapse, when I looked down I could see they were shaking vigorously. My arms were in no better shape. My chest was nearly at its limit. The exercise was putting too much of a strain on my body. My blood was pumping too fast, it was aggravating my wounds and interfering with the healing process.

"If I keep pushing my body like this, I probably won't last much longer. It'll be a miracle if I make it to the top," I gasped.

I slowly climbed up the ramp, limping whilst doing so. My foot had taken even more abuse from the climb on the fencing. I took my sword and scabbard and used it as a cane, tightly grasping the pommel of my sword when I put my weight on it. Shakily and slowly, I made my way up the ramp. In the back of my head I could hear the fierce battle being waged outside.

" _It's useless. Aizen would expect any tactic they tried to pull on him. They need someone to break the balance, variables that even Aizen would never think of think of. H suspects Halibel and I to be dead. Once I get to the top of this damn garage, we'll come up with a plan._ We'll _be the ones to kill Aizen_ ," I venomously thought.

As I reached the last floor before the roof, I felt the reiatsu of someone else other than the captains of the Gotei 13 and Halibel. It was a Hollow, probably a scavenger looking for weakened souls to feed on.

"This is going to be a problem, I have barely enough energy to walk, let alone fight anything. I doubt I'll be able to reason with it. I'll have to try to kill it in one blow."

I felt the Hollow slowly moving up in the compound. Then it struck me.

"The only reason he'd be moving up is to get to Halibel. If he successfully consumes her then there is no chance in hell he'd let me live." I said. Only problem was I was spent. Physically I was still a tired wreck with a hole in his chest. In terms of reiatsu, I was bankrupt. I was spending every ounce to heal myself and prevent myself from bleeding out. I had no choice but to walk on. even if this petty Hollow was stronger than me at the moment.

As I neared the top of the ramp I heard a rustling, similar to a bird preening its feathers, but much louder. At the top I saw a disgusting sight. The Hollow was in the shape of a large raven. It had black teardrop markings on its mask, and its body was a violent shade of indigo. It was stronger than the average Hollow. Made sense, if it wasn't it would've been crushed by the combined reiatsu of everyone fighting.

" **Well, well, well, look at you…** " It growled, " **You seem like you** _ **were**_ **very strong. Why don't you just save us both the time and effort and let me consume you, eh?** "

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't indulge you. I don't have very much time. For once in my life I actually have somewhere important to be."

" **Hmmm… It would seem we are at an impasse."** It started walking toward my right in a broad arc.

" _It's trying to get on my weaker side so that I'll have trouble defending. However, judging from his body he seems more suited for outdoor fights. We're both at a disadvantage._ "

It suddenly stood still, puffing out its feathers for intimidation. I picked up my sword and slowly slid it out of its scabbard, and then flipped it into position like another sword. The Hollow cocked its head to the side, but kept its silence I as I took my stance. This would either end up my last fight or the first of many to come.

I sighed, "This is going to be a pain. I presume you aren't going to make this easy?"

" **Not a chance of that happening.** "

"I thought so. Let's just get this over with."


	3. Chapter 3: Beelzebub

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way, shape or form whatsoever.**

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The Hollow charged, mouth agape, its speed increasing as it got closer. I rolled to right of its attack and jumped behind a car, putting cover between me and the Hollow. It crashed into a wall, leaving a substantially sized crater in it. I watched as it slowly picked itself up with a new anger flowing off of it in droves. It took its stance and charged again. I went and ducked by the car, flattening my back of the ground. The Hollow continued its charge, running over the car, completely flattening it. As it ran over the spot where I lay, I stabbed my sword directly into its breast only to find my sword bounce off its feathers.

Instead of crashing like the last time, the Hollow stopped running and grinded to a halt leaving a trail of sparks behind it. It slowly stood to its full height. " **It would seem as if you can't cut me, Beelzebub** ," it gloated.

I slowly picked my tattered body off the cement. My body had acquired several new scratches over the course of the brief scuffle. Dirt and gravel had gotten into the wounds. I would need to clean them so that I wouldn't get an infection.

"Please don't give me such a pretentious title, I'd hate to have to try and live up to it" I said tiredly.

" **Beelz it is then.** "

I sighed, " _There is no winning in a verbal disagreement with this guy._ "

"Whatever, can we just get this over with? The sooner I'm done with this whole ordeal, the sooner I can rest.

" **As you wish.** "

The Hollow took a different stance this time. It wasn't rearing up for a wild charge this time. It ran at me again, immediately trying to slash me with its wings, using them like swords. It rained down blow after blow, not pausing as it twirled and twisted, using a combination of its wings, tail, and occasionally its claws two try and beat me down. It took much of my strength to block the attacks and keep my focus. After struggling for many strikes, I saw my opening and countered, knocking it off balance. I jumped and stuck at the neck, my sword bouncing off harmlessly.

He quickly shook me off, knocking me on the ground. He then went to stab me with his beak, I quickly rolled to the right, slashing at his beak. We both then went to a standoff, each of us taking a defensive stance. After a tense moment we went at it again, striking, and parrying. I eventually found an opening and kicked him in the stomach. I then did several vertical slashes against his mask. He stumbled back a few feet, but showed no signs of injuries.

I wanted to release my reiatsu for an attack, but judging from the resulting force when I lost control when I fell on my journey here, I was liable to bring the building crumbling down.

The raven kept up its vicious assault, showing no pattern in its attacks, nor any discipline in how it used its reiatsu.

" **You are one persistent bastard, you know that Beelz?** " it said in between strikes.

"Could you please stop calling me that? It's annoying and I don't have time for this."

" **If I'm not annoying then I wouldn't be very memorable, now would I?** "

"Who says I want to remember you?" I said as I dodged an unforeseen strike from the left. We each stood our ground and ceased moving.

" **It's not about being for you. It's for my own sake.** "

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, trying to keep up the conversation so that I could catch my breath.

" **If people remember me then, in some sense I become immortal as long I'm remembered."**

"So you're afraid of death?"

" **Who isn't?** "

"I don't really see it as a problem, so long as I die on my own terms."

It nodded to itself, losing focus as it contemplated my words and my viewpoint. Gradually it regained it's composure, seeming satisfied with whatever conclusion it had made.

" **You ready for one last round, Beelz?** "

"If this is going to be the last round mind telling me why you call me Beelzebub?"

" **I saw that overwhelming power you have. You don't get that strong without doing some horrible things. If there is one thing every person should be wary of, it's the fact that we can become the devil himself. You were the devil or maybe you still are, either way you don't get that strong without causing pain.** "

"Wow, who'd have guessed that under that annoying exterior of yours you were a sentimental thinker."

"Shut up." it growled, putting aside all sentiments and getting back into the mindset for battle.

We the clashed once again with more ferocity than before. His attacks were now faster than before. I was putting far more force into every strike and parry. We struck at each other with the sole intention of ending the other's existence. The Hollow slashed and hacked and stabbed with the desperation of one thousand cornered beasts.

" _It's flaring it's reiatsu blindly without purpose. If it just focused it into an attack…_ " And then I got an idea I should have gotten from the beginning. I slowly started diverting my reiatsu into my hierro and sword.

I then performed an upward slash on the wing he was currently using to attack me, knocking him off balance causing him to fall on the ground. I only had one shot at this. I had heard of a shinigami technique that modified the shunpo into a spinning move, destroying the saketsu and the hakusui. While Hollows may no longer have a saketsu, they still had a hakusui. Destroying it would severely weaken the Hollow, leaving it with almost no strength. I gathered my strength as quickly as possible as the Hollow started to stand. To perform a technique I had never practiced before, in my weakened state, for the use of a finishing blow was a dangerous gamble. I could accidently lose control of my reiatsu, which would produce dangerous results.

" _I won't win if I don't try. He's got more stamina than me at the moment, not to mention reiatsu to spare compared to me. What a pain this fight is turning out to be..._ "

I then started using my sonido. I closed my eyes and focused on where his reiatsu was pouring out. I flipped my blade into a reverse grip, stabbing him in the area near where his saketsu used to be. I then quickly pivoted around his body and stabbed him in the back, near the neck in between his shoulder blades where his reiatsu was the most dense. I felt a burst of energy pour out, like water that was held by a dam. The shock of it knocked me out of my sonido. No sooner was I done using sonido, did I feel the energy subside. I turned around and looked back upon the Hollow, whose life I had just nearly killed.

" **So… What are you going to do with me now, eh?** " he asked weakly.

I took a moment and considered my options.  
"It's, been awhile since I've done this, but I think I'll consume you, Hollow."

I started to get into a good form to use this technique when he asked, "I noticed that you're an Arrancar. What rank are you?"

"I'm surprised you know that we Arrancar have ranks, guess I shouldn't be surprised though. I am the Primera Espada, Coyote Starrk."

" **Nice to know my power will be going into capable hands, even though compared to you at full power I'm probably nothing.** "

"At the very least you'll be helping me out right now. I'm kind of running on empty right now."

" **Then what you waiting for you bastard? Consume me already.** "

I nodded and slowly started sucking in air. I then began to push me own power into this action. Slowly, his soul evaporated and soon enough it was gone.

" _I hate that technique. When used without discretion, it's able to consume whole communities of souls. I accept the fact that as a Hollow I need to absorb souls, but the idea of consuming many multitudes more than necessary doesn't sit well with me. Way too much work for my tastes. How ironic though that the only way to have achieved my strength was the way I hated the most._ "

I stood in the center of garage. I could see the damage our skirmish had inflicted on the environment. I took a moment to reign in my slightly replenished reiatsu and put it to work with healing my wounds. I could feel the process going at a fairly quicker pace.

"I'll probably be recovered from that skirmish in about five minutes," I said as I looked around. It's a good thing we didn't go at it any longer. This place would be trashed if we went overboard."

I then decided to check on Halibel's reiatsu. My findings weren't good, she was at about half the amount of reiatsu she had when I last checked up on her. I broke off into a sprint, putting all the excess energy I had into running, even though there wasn't that much. I was still extremely drained of my power despite the slight boost from the raven.

I was so caught up in my haste to get to Halibel I almost forgot to sheathe my zanpakuto. I couldn't just let her die, she was my last comrade. I needed her help.

When I reached the the beginning of the ramp leading to top of the building I stopped in my tracks. The exit terminal of the garage had collapsed, leaving a pile of pipes, wires, and large slabs that were presumably the remains of the terminal. I slowly walked up the ramp, wondering what the hell I would do. I felt weak and powerless. I had nearly no strength left. Sure I had some reiatsu, but not nearly enough to force this wall of rubble apart. There was also a risk to that option. I would be running the risk of the rubble landing on Halibel.

" _Dammit Starrk, don't lose your cool now. It's just a wall. You're the Primera Espada! You don't keep a title like that just from sheer strength,_ " I thought.

I look at the wall, analyzing it, combing it over for any weakness. I was no architect, but I could spot a weakness when present. I slowly started removing blocks that weren't essential to preventing the structure from collapsing. It was painful, the use of my torn up and battered down muscles. They screamed in protest with every piece I took out of the wall. The longer I worked, the larger the blocks became and the less willing they were to move. I just kept working, visions of revenge running rampant in my head, my willpower being the only thing that dragged my body back to the pile of rubble.

I then saw a hole that had sunlight streaming in through it. I immediately started pulling stones from around it. The were far more stuck than any other stones. I put my entire body into the effort to widen the hole. I strained and pulled. I heard and felt several pops on my various joints, igniting pain at the spots. I kept pulling in spite of the pain.

She was so close. Without her whatever chance I had at defeating Aizen would be gone. I would be the last Arrancar. Above all that thought scared me the most. Heck, I'd even take Baraggan's company if it meant I wasn't alone. Fueled by fear of being alone once again, I finally pried the stone out of the hole, widening it enough for me to fit through. I eyed the hole with suspicion, feeling like the second I stuck even my hand in it, it would then collapse. I sighed and despite my better judgement, crawled through.

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 **Hey y'all I'm back. Went on vacation to Mexico.** **Got to see a beautiful country and meet some wonderful people so that's always cool.** **Got to chill out after taking an intense summer school course to get ahead. I tried real hard on this chapter for you guys. I'd really appreciate some reviews from you guys, it really helps keep me motivated for writing this. Plus this is the first fight** **scene I've ever wrote so it would be especially helpful if you guys left reviews since I don't plan on this being the last one. I'm on my knees begging y'all here. From here on out I'll be trying to stick to that bi-weekly updating schedule I mentioned in the first chapter. I will most likely update earlier seeing as how I'm on break now. That's it for now boys and girls, y'all have a wonderful time and make your days good.**


	4. Chapter 4: Regrouping

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way at all**

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The light stung my eyes as I clambered out of the parking garage. I stood up, dusted myself off and took in my surroundings. I stood on top of the garage, surrounded by ruined cars and rubble. I turned around to see the wrecked terminal that I had emerged from. It looked nothing like what one normally would, resembling a child's pile of rocks more than a building. Upon closer inspection I felt Halibel's reiatsu coming from atop the terminal.

I sighed, not liking the thought of the chaos to come. I glared at the rubble and slowly walked up to it. Slothfully, I reached my hand up and slowly started climbing up. I could feel my wounds with every movement, how they flexed and contracted with every movement.

"Banged up, battered and bruised. After we defeat Aizen, I'm going to have one hell of a nap," I thought, "I hate everything. This rubble, the sky above, the town below, I hate it all." This anger wasn't real though, just the pseudo-hatred that comes from a bad, frustrating day. After all, seeing you're comrades go down in battle and being betrayed by a person who gave you a gift you desperately wanted definitely makes for not the greatest of days.

When I got to the top of the ruined terminal I swore at my current condition and flopped onto my back panting like the worn out dog I was. My chest wounds, while nearly healed, still ached with every breath. My right arm still ached even though the wound was gone. I still had the various scratches I received in my scuffle with the Hollow.

"Starrk? I was wondering how long it would take to drag yourself up here," Halibel said followed by a coughing fit.

I groaned and slowly picked myself off the ground. Halibel was about five meters in front of me, lying on a slab of rubble staring at the sky, no longer in her released form. I slowly walk over to her, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly while doing so.

"Sorry, but I had to take some time to deal with a particularly annoying nuisance."

"So why are you here? Frankly, I'm surprised you even survived the last blow that captain gave you."

"As am I. It still hurts like hell. I came here to propose an alliance of sorts."

"So you also want Aizen's head, eh? I thought you were his most grateful soldier."

"Well, that was before he lead us on this death march and betrayed us."

She grunted her acceptance of the answer and then sat up, hissing and digging her nails into the area surrounding her abdominal wound. She looked at me with hatred as if to say, "If you laugh at my weakness, I will make a whole new circle of hell just for you". I was in no better shape than her in my opinion. We both were extremely far off from the peak of our power and had our fair share of injuries, speaking of which…

"How are your injuries?" I asked as I sat down next to her, watching the Shinigami clash with Aizen.

"The stab wound from Aizen is nearly closed, as for the slash wound, it's still open. I received no major injuries from my fight with the Shinigami, they were mainly just exhausting me."

I nodded pondering what our next course of action should be. I observed the battle between the captains and Aizen. The major factor that would adjust our tactics was Halibel's rate of regeneration. If the wound closed soon enough, we could join in with the captains. The potential for them to try and take us down before we could explain our purpose was high, so that was worrisome.

I continued to watch as Aizen demonstrated his physical prowess, and superiority over the Shinigami. I could see Gin sitting on the sidelines, no doubt having a riot watching the opposition struggle against Aizen. I looked across the battlefield and saw the strawberry blonde haired Shinigami that I had recaptured Orihime Inoue from. He was standing to the sidelines, sword drawn and watching with incredible focus.

"What's the kid from Las Noches doing here?"

This caught Halibel's attention, she looked wildly around the war zone to find him and then focused on him.

"It would seem as the captains are using him as a trump card," she said after a fair amount of time and observation.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, feeling too lethargic to figure it out myself.

"If he was of no use then the captains would have told him to go away. If he was a healer, then he would obviously be healing everyone. He's just on the sidelines, with his sword drawn, waiting for an opening. Compared to the captains, he's an abundance of energy and power. Since they are all weakened, it stands to reason he has the best shot of killing Aizen," she explained. I nodded to show my understanding.

"How long do you think it will take for your wounds to heal?"

"Around two hours."

It didn't look like the captains were going to last another twenty minutes. The captain that Halibel fought was in a fit of blind rage, leaving himself wide open. They all struggled so hard to kill him, I had to commend them on their tenacity. I analyzed Aizen's fighting style, trying to perceive any patterns or openings. He left none. He fought using everything he could to his advantage. Combine that with his colossal base power and I had my doubts about if Halibel and I would be able to change the tide of battle. I looked down at my left hand visualizing the number on it.

"I don't even know if I can release anymore. Heck, right now Halibel is probably more fit to be the Primera than me," I thought.

"Where's Lilynette?"

I winced on the inside, not quite ready to face the world completely on my own.

"She's gone."

I saw Halibel widen her eyes slightly, looking as if she wanted to ask more questions. She kept her silence. I guess because she might've been reminded of her own loss today as well. We sat in silence trying regain our composure after that precarious emotional moment. We could go and wallow in our self-pity later, after we had either died or accomplished our goals. Until then we just had to try and keep a strong vice grip on our emotions.

I laid back onto the ground, looking vertically at the passing clouds to try and clear my head. I starting to zone out when I realized Halibel had asked another question.

I turned my head so that I was looking at her and said, "Sorry, I was zoned out there. Mind repeating yourself?"

She shook her head in a somewhat exasperated manner, muttering, "Should've figured" before asking her question again.

"I asked if you were still able to release with her gone."

I turned my head back to its original position and thought about it for a few minutes before giving my answer.

"I don't think I can. We released by uniting our souls, not by unleashing the Hollow powers sealed in our zanpakuto. I guess, at this moment, you're now the Primera."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Starrk. At this point I'd say rank is pointless. Given that the kid Ulquiorra fought is here, that must indicate his business in Las Noches is finished. He has rescued Orihime Inoue and since she isn't here, we can infer there are no longer any threats to her safety back at Las Noches. There are no more Espada. We are the last. To call one of us Primera would just be an arrogant title."

I nodded, letting her words sink in. I felt a sense of relief of no longer having the official title of Primera. I was no longer bound to anyone. I wasn't in an organization, I wasn't compared with anyone. I was Coyote Starrk. Independent and free. While part of that scared me, being on my own again and all, it felt kind of good to not have the title and to know I wasn't the strongest. The fear of being alone was still present in my mind. After this Halibel and I would most likely part ways. We wouldn't have anything to really keep us in touch. I decided not to focus on that now. I could deal with this later, there were more pressing matters at hand.

"What are you going to do after this?" I asked.

She took a thoughtful pose and said, "I'll do what I think is best."

"Transparent as always."

"What, and you can tell me exactly what you're going to do after this?" she asked, her voice losing some of it's serious tone.

"Haha, guess not."

She laughed as well, it was soft yet, it still helped to relieve a bit of the tension. It was a nice moment in all the hatred of the surrounding atmosphere. We sat in a comfortable silence, and I laid back down, putting my hands behind my head.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't focused, I was just looking. Similar to how one looks at a painting, you just absorb it. I saw her just… existing, trying to keep existing. The raw survival instinct. It was all I could see in her eyes as she continued to analyze the battle. I shifted my gaze over to the battle. Not much had changed, everyone was about the face just far more bloodied.

"How long do you think it will take for you to heal your injuries?" I asked, feeling need for rest catching up to me.  
"About an hour or two."

"I'm pretty drained from the trip here, so I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me if either have to run for our lives, or when you're fully healed." I said as I closed my eyes and prepared to have to the best damn nap of my life.  
She nodded. For an instant I thought I saw a small note of sympathy in her eyes before it was swallowed by her usual stare of indifference. I gradually drifted off and found myself in the familiar realm of dreams. It was warm and there was no killing. Everything was at peace. I would see brief images, faces, or just things I had seen on the street, even a few things I had never seen. This peace was broken all too soon when I felt Halibel wake me up.

I winced and kept my eyes closed, wanting to go back to the peace.

"Come on, Starrk. We have to get moving. Now."

"Can it wait five more minutes, please?"

* * *

 **How y'all doing? I'm back once again with more exposition, YAY, cause you all just freakin' _love_ exposition, now don'tcha? Sorry if it came a bit later than some of you would have preferred, but I'm still within the bi-weekly schedule. I've kinda been banking on schedule a bit more because I've had a pretty busy week. Some friends and I got together and we've just been jamming. Soo thats been keepin' me a bit busy. We're meeting up again tomorrow so hopefully we can get some good stuff done and all. As per usual I beg of you all for reviews and that whatnot. I know the chapter wasn't that exciting, but it was pretty important because it gives you the standing of their current relationship. Pretty impersonal and kinda awkward and weird. But I need the reviews so when the time comes for you lot to read the good juicy bits, they will actually be _really_ good and juicy. I'll need tips on how to write good fights, and how to write good fluent, realistic conversations and not the trash I think I've been giving you. I try hard to give you all something great, but it won't ever be amazing if you never help me out here and give me some feedback and tips on how to write better. Now that I'm done with that, I think I should inform you that the next chapter or so is probably going to be one of the last majorly obvious expositional chapters to set everything up. After that the story should start to take some kind of shape and just practically start writing itself(Hopefully). If you guys have any suggestions for little things I could add in to the plot feel free to let me know. Well that's my long-winded spiel today, I'll get out of your hair now. As usual, all you amazing people have a wonderful day and I'll see you all when I post the next installment of Beautiful Charlottel Cuhlhourn's Sweet Ultra Funky Fantastic Dramatic Romantic Sadistic Erotic Exotic Athletic Dangerous Psychedelic Valuable Economical Continental Incredible Unbelievable Slow Burn.**


	5. Chapter 5: A Devil Called Bastard

**Disclaimer: I have no ownership over Bleach in any way, shape, form, or on any plane of** **existence. Realizing this now, I'm going to proceed to cry in the nearest corner. Excuse me.**

* * *

"Come on, Starrk. We have to get moving. Now."

"Can it wait five more minutes, please?"

I could almost hear her frown as she said, "No. The fight has moved. We have to go. Now."

I slowly opening my eyes, blinking at the sudden surplus of light. When she saw I was fully adjusted to being conscious again, she extended her hand. I gratefully accepted it. muttering a "Thanks" as she pulled me up. She merely nodded and went back to her normal posture, arms crossed, as I stretched and got ready. I nodded to her when I was ready and she opened a garganta. We both jumped in, with Halibel taking the lead.

"So, any major updates on the fight?" I asked.

"Aizen has fused with the Hogyoku, increasing his power so high that he was able to defeat all the captains with ease and then some other Shinigami who came at the last second. Ichigo Kurosaki, the boy who invaded Las Noches, fought Gin. Gin won and another Shinigami took Ichigo to the Soul Society to go after Aizen. Aizen has gone to the Soul Society because that is now the location of the real Karakura Town. We're going there to possibly stall until Ichigo and the other Shinigami show up. They wouldn't be going there if there wasn't a chance of their victory."

"While I don't like the possibility that we won't be the ones to kill him, I can't complain too much as long as the result is the same."

She nodded to show her agreement. I was a bit nervous about all this, so much so that my legs were not as steady as usual and I almost tripped several times.

" _Before his fusion with the Hogyoku, Aizen had twice the reiatsu of a captain. While the captains got stronger in the time before the Hogyoku awakened there was still a large gap between them and Aizen. Since we were defeated by the captains it stands to reason that we'll be no match against Aizen as he is now. Halibel has more than likely deduced that, yet she still plans to throw herself into this fight with everything she's got. The only way it looks like we can win is with a miracle. I just hope it comes before we get the chance to forfeit our lives."_

I started to see Karakura Town ahead of me and mentally prepared myself for whatever was to come, however, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when we stepped outside. We looked around to assess the situation and we found Gin lying on a pile of rubble with one of the lieutenants we had seen earlier, kneeling next to him, pitifully crying. Standing several meters away was a group of high school students, a Shinigami with an afro, and a man who had one of the worst tastes in fashion I had seen to date. They were all enraptured by the mountain range at the edge of the town and I quickly realized why. The entirety of the Soul Society was quaking from the awesome power being released. You could feel every strike and parry resonate in your chest. It was struggle to stand if you lost your concentration.

Mesmerized, I slowly made my way toward the other people, Halibel doing likewise. Every time the blades met, they made such a pure sound that rang out for all to hear, like they wanted everyone to know of the fight that was taking place. Its wasn't a savage sound. It was more like bells or chime, ringing out across a misty valley.

Breaking myself out of my trance I turned my attention to the group and asked, "Can you feel it, the power emitting from those two?"

A girl with short dark hair was the first to address me. She seemed a little surprised at first and nodded.

"We can all feel it," she said. "But barely. It's like their power is so high our senses are being overloaded, like how if you stick your hand in really hot water it'll feel cold."

I nodded my understanding and then turned back to the mountain range. "Who is it that's fighting Aizen?"

"Aizen"

"Brown-haired guy in white, kinda creepy"

"Oh him. Our friend, Ichigo, is fighting him, but he seems different. He looked taller and had longer hair. Not to mention his clothes looked like they hadn't been washed in ages and had all kinds of tears in them."

"Well, it would seem he's done it again, Halibel," I said, drawing Halibel's attention to the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Both Halibel and the girl asked.

"Let's just say your friend, Ichigo, has a knack for getting lucky in fights, and just got one of the luckiest breaks of his life."

The girl nodded, content with the answer for the moment. "So, who are you guys?" she asked.

"I'm Tia Halibel and he's Coyote Starrk, you could say we were the reserve fighters, seeing how your friend has the situation under control, there shouldn't be a need for us to step in," said Halibel.

"I'm Tatsuki Arisawa. The brunette is Keigo Asano, the short, black-haired guy is Mizuiro Kojima, and the redhead over there is Chizuru Honsho."

"Nice yo meet you."

"Sorry to interrupt this nice budding friendship, but you guys should probably start watching the mountains more. Something's happening," I said.

Halibel did a quiet gasp as she saw what was unfolding at the mountains. A large, bright, purple pillar of reiatsu was being released and the power that the combatants had, finally escaped both Halibel's and my own ability to sense them. The world stood still for a few moments, holding its breath and waiting for the next bout.

It came in with force that would rival a nuclear weapon. The blast from the attack reaching miles into the sky, the smoke circling in on itself and creating a mushroom cloud that dominated the sky, blocking out the sun. The wind came at us like a pack of wolves, tugging and tearing away at all openings presented, nearly overwhelming us. It threw dust in my eyes, making them become teary. The wind shattered windows and forced doors open. Some wall even cracked from its force.

"If the wind from the attack caused this much damage, then what in the hell does the epicenter look like?" I yelled, the words being ripped from my mouth by the wind.

"I don't know, but I'd really hate to be Ichigo about now," Tatsuki replied, yelling and straining her voice so that she could be heard.

The wind picked up suddenly in an instant. In that instant the sky cleared and returned to it's normal blue hue and the fire and remaining blast from the attack had died down. The air was now calm and still again, but it still held all the tension it had at the start of the fight. Everyone here knew that this was a bout beyond the simple fisticuffs that usually defined a fight. This was a war between two beings that had transcended all limits set before them, people who had the will and the way to raze continents if they so wished. An explosion like that would not be good enough to end this.

Then there was another strike and after a moment, a massive uncontrolled release of reiatsu went up into the sky, enveloping the horizon in white with streaks of black swirling about. It gradually narrowed down and became a pure, dark, smokey black reiatsu that kept a persistent stream, going up to the heavens. As it went higher into the sky, it kept it's form and did not dissipate, which was a testament to its density and strength.

"I wish I knew who was releasing that," I stated.

"I think it's Ichigo Kurosaki. Back in the world of the living, Aizen released reiatsu that had more of a purple hue to it. As we saw earlier, first there was the purple reiatsu, probably signifying a power-up on his part. He probably wouldn't start powering-up again and again, in desperation, Ichigo wouldn't or rather shouldn't give him that opportunity. Most likely Ichigo is releasing his limits in order to match or overwhelm Aizen," she replied.

"That makes sense," said Keigo, speaking up for the first time in a shaky voice," But...what exactly is he? He can't just be a normal guy to be able to destroy freakin' mountains and take what looked like a nuke."

Halibel paused and looked at me, silently asking me if we should tell them everything. I shook my head, it wasn't our place to do this.

"I think we should let Ichigo tell you about all of _this,_ " I said gesturing to the demolished area around us and the mountains. Keigo slowly nodded, too shocked to really put up a protest.

The sky then went pitch black, covering the sky for kilometers upon kilometers in every direction you looked. It was heavy and unrelenting, suffocating all the blue hues out of the sky. Then a curtain of black slowly slid down across the mountains cutting deep into them, extending across the range for about a kilometer. The curtain slowly slid up, and the darkness of the sky receded, the whole energy structure collapsing in on itself and dissipating into nothingness. The following silence was deafening. We all sat waiting for the next move to do something even more drastic and spectacular. It never came. I felt a fast weakening reiatsu, presumably Ichigo's dropping fast, almost disappearing. Just when I thought it would disappear, it stopped shrinking, though it was on the brink of being lost forever. I sensed another reiatsu unfamiliar to me.

"Halibel do you know who just joined Ichigo?" I asked.

She paused to sense it out and replied, "He was one of the people who tried to stop Aizen after the captains failed."

"Should we go check it out?"

"Not yet… judging from Ichigo's energy, that battle came at a heavy price. He's probably realizing it and trying to come to terms with it. We should wait, the other person there would likely be on guard just incase anyone would attack Ichigo now."

"Alright."

"Wait… so it's over? Ichigo won?" Mizuiro asked cautiously, not wanting his excitement to be for nothing.

"I believe it is," Halibel stated.

"Woohoo! Ichigo won! Now he'll be famous as a savior and get his own TV show, make millions and he'll ask me to be is manager. Why of course Ichigo, I'd love to be your manager!" Keigo rambled rapidly, loudly and in a very annoying fashion.

"Shut up, dumbass!" Tatsuki shouted, decking Keigo, leaving him sprawled on the ground, "Now, let's go see Ichigo, I think he owes us all some answers."

She then picked up Keigo, and started running toward the mountains, the other members of their party trailing after her. I glanced at Halibel, silently asking if we should follow. She shrugged, and looked on at the group. I gave a look that was about the equivalent of "What the hell?" and started following the group with Halibel close behind me.

Halibel and I eventually caught up with the whooping, hollering group. I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at their antics.

"Come on Starrk, loosen up a bit! You know you want to let out a good yell!" a revived Keigo yelled.

"I would, but after all that's happened today, I'm just too damn tired."

"Yet you can keep up with us…"

"..."

Halibel and I from then on just observed their jubilant celebration. I looked around at the town as we passed through it. Every building had a story to it, a peaceful, uneventful life. To exist like they did, it seemed to be like a dream. Repeating over and over. Generally every day for them was the same, but to them the slight differences seemed to make it all worth it.

" _Damn, I hate how I get sentimental when I'm too tired._ "

We continued our running, our joy-filled bodies riding an emotional high of excitement, and energy, carrying us out of the city limits into the rough terrain of the mountains. We were immediately greeted by the sight of a surprised Ichigo Kurosaki and a blonde man in green robes wearing a white and green striped hat.

"ICHIGO!" the collective sum of his friends shouted. Ichigo's face lit up and ran down towards them. The other man hung back, a troubled look on his face. I motioned for Halibel to follow my lead. We quietly separated from the group and walked toward the man.

We stopped when we were about two meters from him, close but not too close.

"So, there are still other Arrancar. Aizen is dead. What do you two intend to do now?" he asked, a bit of an edge in his voice indicating he wasn't ruling out a fight.

"I don't know about her, but I want to go into hiding."

"Why's that?"

"I'm sick of fighting. The war has left me ragged and weak. If I go back to Hueco Mundo, I'll likely die. I don't plan on getting in anyone's way, just recuperating that's all."

"And what about you?" he asked, turning to Halibel.

"Same," she said in her typical, closed off tone.

He paused to think for a while, eyeing us up and down.

"What are your ranks," he asked.

"I'm the Tercera and he's the Primera."

"I was hoping I wouldn't be doing this for anyone strong, but I think I can help you two out," he said with a bit of evil glint in his eye, the kind that only comes from scheming, "I'll help you guys lay low on a few conditions."

"Name them."

"My first is that you let me do a complete analysis on you."

"What do you mean by analysis?" she said narrowing her eyes.

"I'd be analyzing everything from your body's structure and how it releases reiatsu, to how you release, and how much of your reiatsu makeup is Shinigami and how much is Hollow. From there I may come up with more tests to be done. As a fair warning, if you disagree with this term or any others, I won't help you out."

Haliel looked over at me to see if I was okay with all this.

" _This could be beneficial. If he's smart enough, his research could help give me some answers as to how my powers work now that Lilinette is gone. It doesn't seem too bad. We've already revealed ourselves to him. I doubt we could out-run him. If we run at any point, now that we're discovered, we'd be hunted down. Even if I didn't like the offer, I'd still have to accept on the off chance he's being genuine right now_ ," I thought.

"I'm okay with those terms, are you?" I asked Halibel.

"We accept that term. Any others?" She asked the man.

"Nope! I may just ask for an odd favor here and there, nothing too unpleasant or extreme. I should probably introduce myself now. I'm Kisuke Urahara, humble shop owner." he said cheekily.

"Tia Halibel, Tercera Espada."

"Coyote Starrk, Primera Espada."

Kisuke looked over my shoulder to observe Ichigo's conversation with his friends.

"I have some business with Ichigo that I need to attend to. I'd recommend that you stay out of the town since they should be putting it back into the world of the living in a few days. When that happens, come visit my shop and I'll start testing and have some of my associates create identities for you to use," he said handing us both a slip of paper with his address on it.

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" I asked.

Kisuke got a panicked look on his face for a brief second before quickly running toward Ichigo yelling, "Oh, Ichigo! I have some important things to discuss with you if I may rip you away from your friends for a few moments," he said hurriedly, grabbing the boy's shoulders and pushing him away from everyone as fast he could.

"Well… he's going to be an… interesting guy to deal with," I said somewhat shakily, suppressing anger and annoyance.

"He's a bastard," Halibel replied.

"Totally."

* * *

 **Yo! Sorry for the wait y'all. We have FINALLY made it through the main expositional part of the story, onto the real pressing matters like how Kisuke is going to make everyone's life hell. _Will_ Starrk be forced to clean Kisuke's toilets? Find out next time! I think this has been one of the longest chapters I've wrote so far. Soo... uhhhh... I have a little bit of a confession for y'all. I may have forgotten how I structured my bi-weekly schedule. Now before y'all freak out and start panicking, I've come up with a solution... ****ish... thing. It's still going to be bi-weekly... but now, and here's the innovative part that may or may not be me coming up with the exact same schedule, I'm going to be going bi-weekly from the date of whenever I release a chapter. In the long run, its probably not going to make too much of a difference, so most likely by reading this, I just managed to still thirty seconds from your life tops. Please remember to Favorite, Follow and and most importantly _REVIEW!_ I love gettin' feedback from y'all. Can I get, like, I don't know... five... maybe five reviews from you guys? It really shouldn't be a problem for you guys. There is a fairly large amount of you reading this, so realistically five is an extremely small amount to ask for. I know y'all are shy but I swear I don't bite. Hope you guys have a good time reading this story and continue to keep checkin' in and reading it. Have a great day and I will beg for more reviews and the like later! Have a wonderful fortnight!**


	6. Chapter 6: Meander On

**Disclaimer: I've siad it before, I'll say it again and I'll keep saying it 'till I cough up my lungs. I do not own Bleach in any way, shape or form.**

* * *

And so Halibel and I spent a week out in the wilderness, avoiding being found by the Soul Society and cursing Kisuke Urahara all the while. That would not be the last time we did so. I spent most of my days sleeping. I think Halibel had spent that time scouting out the Soul Society's forces and seeing how their progress was going. On the seventh day they finally transferred Karakura Town back to the real world. Halibel then opened a garganta and we dragged our tired, sore and stiff bodies through it, ending up in the sky above the town.

"Ready to confront the bastard?" I asked.

"Try to keep me from pulverizing him too bad since he's the one helping us."

"I'll see what I can do." I said shrugging.

We then descended into the city. Looking around, trying to find a street sign or something of that like.

"Ugh, this is no help at all. We have the address, but no clue about navigating the city." I groaned.

"He did say he was a candy shop owner. There can't be _that_ many candy shops within the city. Besides if he was a captain level Shinigami and wasn't wearing the uniform, that might imply he isn't officially allied with the Soul Society." Halibel said.

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

"I'm saying he must be keeping a low profile for whatever reason, so the shop would be hard to find even if we knew the layout of the town. It's probably in a place where many people wouldn't go, like in an alley or something."

"Well thats just wonderful. A candy shop in an alleyway or something. Here I was hoping this would just be a quick, easy thing so we could just get on with everything. The guy really is turning out to be a bastard."

"Agreed."

We started walking towards the center of the city. Logic dictates that if there are more buildings, then there are most likely more alley ways. We eventually made our way into a large, open park. It was surrounded on all sides by tall buildings, many of which had large screens on them showing advertisements. The park was by no means small, in fact it was larger than most. The cement and asphalt beneath us was replaced with grass and dirt. It had a good number of tall trees in it and the park seemed to stretch on for a very far distance, or at least far enough that we couldn't see the bottom of the buildings across the park.

We slowly walked in taking in the sights. I was getting tired of walking and Halibel, despite her best efforts, was looking a bit dead on her feet. I wasn't surprised, she had spent a lot of time in Soul Society doing recon and making sure we weren't detected. She had shadows under her eyes and her feet dragged on the ground a bit. She kept a straight posture and betrayed no other signs, but I being the expert on sleeping that I was, could deduce her weariness from the few signs shown and the context that I had. I slowly made my way to a nearby bench and sat down. Halibel gave me a look, but I just nodded for her to get over here.

"Seriously, Starrk? Can't you at least wait until we get to Kisuke's house to rest?" She said exasperatedly.

"No telling if we're getting close at all. If we are close, then at least we'll be in slightly better shape for when we see him. Besides, it'll feel good to take a load off and just relax after all that's happened." I said not mentioning that I was also a bit worried about her wellbeing.

She sighed and reluctantly sat down. I could see how she quite visibly relaxed once she was off her feet. I leaned my head back so that I was facing skyward and stared at the sky. I could hear Halibel's breath start to slow, indicating she was already falling asleep. I had to admit, even though she was on the brink of total exhaustion, she was falling asleep at a rather impressive speed which I was a bit jealous of. Soon I felt the weight of her leaning on me with her head resting on my shoulder. If she stayed in this position she undoubtedly wake up with quite a few cramps. I felt sorry that she felt the need to stress herself so much all because we were unsure of whether or not I was still the strongest former Espada or even a competent one for that matter.

I shifted myself so that I was sitting at the end of the bench and shifted Halibel's sleeping body so that she was lying on her back with her head resting in my lap. I put my arms so they were resting on the back of the bench and once again leant back and looked at the clouds. I wasn't worried too much about her reaction to this. Undoubtedly I would wake up after her so she probably wouldn't immediately pester me awake. It was almost guaranteed

I would wake up after her since sometimes, if Lilynette was out on an assignment I would sleep for days on end until she got back and woke me up.

I eventually fell into a dreamless sleep. It was a mixture of darkness, yet there was color. Weightless and the feeling of being crushed, many sensations and none. When I was asleep it felt like I could feel how I was a part in the universe. It was reassuring, to feel that way especially now whenever I woke up I heard the tiny voice of doubt in the back of my mind. It had yet to affect my sanctuary in the realm of dreams. I had to enjoy every bit of sleep I could get before it was also there.

I woke up to the sound of birds calling, children playing and cars being driven. It was soothing, unlike most wake-up calls I got, I received a slow, easy transition from the realm of dreams to reality. I slowly flitted my eyelids open to a vermillion sky. I slowly lifted my head forward, hearing my neck crack and groan in protest. With my still blurry vision I was eventually to find a person that I presumed was Halibel, judging from their all white garb.

"Hey," I croaked, still trying to get my voice to work. She looked over at me reluctantly and narrowed her eyes somewhat, presumably frowning or some other expression to show disdain. "Don't give me that look, if you don't stop I might have nightmares," I said with a mild bit of cheek.

"Your actions were unnecessary," she said, getting straight to the point.

"I would disagree."

Why?" she asked, giving the word a dangerous bite to it's sound.

"Well for starters, you really did need your rest after all the recon and scouting you did in our week in Soul Society. Just from seeing the little cues of exhaustion, I knew you were on your last legs. I thought it would be better here and now, rather than in the middle of one of Urahara's tests."

"I can take care of myself, Starrk."

"I know that and I appreciate all of the effort you've put in this past week, but you sometimes push yourself too much." She gave a small huff of annoyance, but stayed silent and continued to radiate her miffed vibe.

"Any other issues you want to discuss? Usually something as small as this wouldn't be that big of a deal for you."

"I don't know," she said raising her voice to and extremely sarcastic level, "Maybe the fact that you put my _head_ in your _lap_!"

"Huh, forgot about that. Probably should've figured that would come up."

" _Really_? Because that kind of thing is just _so_ commonplace with us!"

"Will you let me explain?" I asked. She had a semi-shocked look on her face as she realised her outburst and muttered a quiet "sorry" before turning her head down and crossing her arms.

"It's alright," I said, "It's been a stressful time, I don't blame you. The reason I did what I did was so that you'd sleep better. The little sleep you got then would be crucial to how you would be when you woke up. If you just slept like I did, you probably would've woken up in worse shape than before you went to sleep."

"Then how come you aren't in terrible condition?"

"Out of all the times you came back from your reconnaissance, how many times was I awake?" I asked. She thought for a moment and then figured out that I had nearly slept the entire week, giving me a rather surprised look.

"Exactly, anyway though that's why I did what I did. I'm sorry for causing all this drama and I hope you'll accept my apology."

"... Apology accepted, Starrk," she said reluctantly after a moment, followed by a sigh as she sat down next to me on the bench.

"Halibel, as long as we're stuck in the same sinking ship, I have no other options than to depend on you. My strength has had a sharp decrease since the war, so if we get into major trouble you'd be the only person I could really count on. Logically, it would be in my best interest to partner up with you." This wasn't a lie. It was obvious to anyone I wasn't as strong as before. My reiatsu was a little less than half of what it used to be.

Silence.

"Mind telling me why you're letting me stick around?

Silence.

"You alright?"

She stood up abruptly, her back to me and said in a commanding, no nonsense tone, "I think we should get going." Then she proceeded to walk away, leaving me to wonder how I managed to mess up again. I shook my head in a tiresome fashion and ran to catch up to her.

We walked past a playground filled with children, some still playing while others begged their parents to let them stay. Completely ignorant of any and all problems and consequences. I looked up to stare into the trees that stood above our pathway. They had branches that wove through each other in a fashion that if you were to just look at the branches, it would be hard to see where one tree ended and the next began. As we were about to leave I looked back, taking note of the buildings around the park. It seemed like a good place for a nap that I might come to on occasion.

And so we continued our search for the illusive candy shop. We went through nearly every alley in the city, past every gang, crossed every street and there was still no sign of the shop. I long ago stopped trying to navigate the city and orientate myself, now I was just blindly following Halibel. It was getting late, the sun had long ago set. We now stood on a pedestrian overpass, taking a small break. Halibel was leaning forward on her elbows on the guardrail while I was leaning back on it. ] Halibel had been silent the entire time we had been searching, despite the few times I tried to start a conversation. I figured she must've still been upset at whatever I said.

"I think I finally have an answer to your question," she said quietly after we had spent at least thirty minutes sitting there. I perked up a bit upon hearing this since was the first time she had spoken in hours.

"What question?"

"The one about why I let you stick around."

"Oh, that one. What's your answer then?"

"Because on your own, you'd lose all motivation and stop taking good care of yourself until you eventually died in a ditch."

"And why would you care about whether or not I take good care of myself?"

"... Because it always hurts to see a strong comrade be defeated by their own inner demons," she wistfully replied.

"Agreed." We sat in a now comfortable silence since the tension had been resolved. I slowly got up and walked to the center of the pathway. "You know what though, Halibel? Out of all the other people I could have gotten stuck with, I got to say I would still rather be stuck with you."

She slowly turned around and in the lamplight, I could see a faint a blush out of the top of her collar. "You shouldn't say such things so easily," she said, not looking me in the eye and falling back to her defensive, arms-crossed posture.

"Whatever you say," I said as I started walking toward the next alley with Halibel hot on my heels. As we walked into the alley, I could already see a clearing that seemed to be the courtyard to a shop. I started running toward the clearing, ignoring Halibel's shout for me to slow down. I was rewarded with the sight of a sign that read "Urahara Shop". I couldn't help grinning, malicious thoughts of torturing the bastard accelerating through my head. Halibel eventually caught up to me and upon seeing the sign, chuckled for the first time today. No doubt she was also thinking of all the ways we were going to kill him.

"You know how you told me to hold you back?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I'll have the self-control to do that."

"You're welcome to join in on the fun then."

"I was planning on doing that, whether you welcomed me or not," I said starting to walk toward the entrance of the shop, feeling revitalized with this minor victory. I'd get some much needed answers with Kisuke Urahara's tests. Then Halibel and I could go underground have some peace and the ability to do what we pleased. As excited as I was, I was sure she couldn't wait for me to get out of her hair.

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 **So, chapter six. Tried to have some moments in there, and I apologize if they weren't the best. You know what makes me a better writer and encourages me to pump out these chapters faster? _Reviews._ You know what the majority of you didn't do on the last chapter? _Review_. I got two out of the five I asked for. I guess I should just take what I can get at this point. Thanks to lovewrath and Bhoddisatva for your reviews, I'm really happy you guys did. I think that would be worth, like, I don't know... 50 brownie points? Yeah, 50 brownie points. If you guys want to see certain things happen, leave a review. I have a faint idea of what I want to do in regards with the plot, but I need a few more ideas to kinda do some filler and possibly integrate more plot into the story. Like always I'll try to get the next chapter out to you guys in a timely manner, in the mean time check back in from time to time or just follow the story so you get alerted whenever I update. As always you guys stay awesome and have a wonderful fortnight and I will try to get back to y'all as soon as I can.**


	7. Chapter 7: Interlude of Hokum

**Disclaimer:** **Wish I did own Bleach. But I don't. Besides, if I did it probably wouldn't be as appreciated and well recieved as it is**

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As we walked into the shop I immediately noticed something was wrong. As I looked at the stock of the store I realised why. This wasn't just an ordinary candy shop. This was a shop that sold Soul Candy and other supplies for any needs a Shinigami may have. It made more sense on why Urahara wasn't a captain. Maybe the Soul Society needed a shop in the world of the living. If so this was it and to own would be a pretty big responsibility, what with having to stay stocked and keeping it undiscovered by any enemies.

"Ah, you two must be the ones the boss was talking about! Welcome!" said a main coming out from a door in the back of the store. He stood tall at around two meters, had an extremely muscular build, a decent tan, moustache.

"You work for Kisuke Urahara?" Halibel asked.

"Yes, I do. I am Tessai Tsukabishi, and you are?"

"I'm Tia Halibel and his name is Coyote Starrk."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Shall I take you to meet with the boss? He's been expecting you all day."

"Yes, please."

He walked over to a door that presumably lead deeper into the building and motioned for us to follow him. The entire interior of the house seemed to be modeled like those in Soul Society. We walked down a narrow corridor and from first impressions the building, it seemed to be far more than just a shinigami shop. It held many rooms and when I could see the ones with doors left open, most seemed to be bedrooms with a few infirmaries here or there. All of these rooms were directly attached to the outermost part of the house. At the end of the hallway Tessai turned and opened a door that lead to the interior of the house.

"Hey boss?!" he yelled. "Your visitors are finally here!"

"What are you doing keeping them waiting?" a calm voice said on the other side. "Let them in."

Tessai moved away from the door and motioned for us to come in. As we stepped through I heard him mumble, "Give him hell." Glad to know weren't the only ones who wanted to beat him up. We were greeted with the smell of herbal tea and two places already made for us at a small round table that Kisuke was sitting at, wearing his trademark hat and mischievous grin. Halibel and I took our seat.

"Welcome to my humble abode, you two. I hope there wasn't too much trouble while you waited," he said in an aloof voice. Halibel got up, calmly walked over, and picked Kisuke up, putting him into a full nelson.

"Ms. Halibel as much as I enjoy your company, this is rather uncomfortable. Would you mind letting me go?" he said, nervously chuckling at the end.

"Starrk, would you mind?" she asked.

"Not at all." I got up and calmly walked over, taking my time to make sweat. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my arms a bit in preparation for a moment of pure bliss. Kisuke started thrashing wildly in Halibel's arm's. He was completely powerless against her iron grip.

"You ready, Urahara? I'm not going to be going easy on ya," I said letting a face-splitting grin grace my face. I then started winding my fist back and started putting reiatsu into it.

"Now Starrk, you wouldn't do this to me, right? We're both reasonable men, surely we can sort this out peacefully?" he begged.

"Sorry Urahara, you left out to dry and subsequently made us have an all-around unpleasant time. Besides, if I didn't do this, then Halibel surely would've and she would've made it far worse," as if to emphasize my point, Halibel tightened her grip which caused an audible pop in Kisuke's shoulders. His face went from panic to terror.

"Here it comes, Urahara!" I yelled, releasing the attack.

"NOT MY FACE!"

* * *

"So, Urahara, when are we starting those tests you mentioned?" I asked.

"Tomorrow," he squeaked.

"You know, I do think it was kind of unnecessary for you to kick him at the end, Halibel."

"I disagree. I'd go so far as to say you didn't go far enough."

"I don't even know how many times I hit him, Halibel. _My_ fist hurts just from punching so much."

"Then you should've kicked him more."

'Whatever," I sighed, taking a sip from my tea, savoring its flavor. "Say, would you mind letting us stay here for the time being, Urahara?"

He weakly nodded and slowly got up, doubled over in agony and limped to the door. He opened it and squeaked for Tessai, who promptly came over and showed us to our rooms. They were small and impersonal, containing just a bed and a nightstand. I collapsed onto my bed, tired from the long day and drifted off to my last sanctuary.

Even in my sleep I almost could feel that cursed emotion chasing me. I didn't want it. It would only hold me back. I'd deal with it eventually just not now. I've had far too much of it before. I would pray to whatever god there was for it to go away, but they never listened. This damn emotion. What was I supposed to do with it? It held no purpose other than to drag you down until you lost all drive to stand up. I was no exception. After drowning in it for years, it knew all the cracks in my armour.

"I'll be okay," part of me said. "I can always count on Halibel and there's no telling who else I'll befriend here." I was a dog, looking for anyone who would take me in. I didn't care who. This mutt just needed a home and hopefully Kisuke Urahara would be the guy to help me take the first step towards finding it. Then IT would be gone. Kisuke was a bastard, but a well-meaning one. Even though left us in the lurch, he still was going to help us. If not, we'd make him if it came to that. Tonight's dream was just of a dog chasing his tail, ironic, eh? It was strangely hypnotic. I guess all dreams are like that, when you have symbolic dreams that don't even try to hide their symbolism. Hopefully though, this dog would have more to do or to worry about than catching his own tail.

When I woke, there was fresh morning sunshine clinging tightly to my face and the sounds of the city pounding my ears. I slowly lifted myself off of the ever-alluring bed and noticed on the nightstand next to me there was a small bag. When I looked inside I saw that it contained many necessary hygiene products that I needed. " _Tessai probably gave these to us seeing as how Urahara seems to like making people squirm,"_ I thought.

I got up and made my way to find the bathroom. As I turned the corner I quite literally bumped into someone.

"Sorry," I said, rubbing my head in embarrassment.

"It's alright," she said. She was a fairly attractive woman standing at a little above average height. She had piercing, analytical golden eyes, long, well kept violet hair and a similar skin tone to Halibel. "You must be one of the Arrancar Kisuke took in. I'm Yoruichi Shihouin, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Coyote Starrk. It's nice to meet you too. Would you happen to know where the bathroom is around here? "

"Down the hall behind me. You should really shower, it smells like you haven't for a week."

"That's funny considering I haven't been able to in a week."

"Why? No showers at Las Noches?" she asked with some smugness in her voice.

"Urahara kind of left us blowing in the wind in Soul Society and Las Noches wasn't safe to go to because it was probably crawling with Shinigami."

"Yeah Kisuke does that kind of stuff from time to time, but you're in good hands with the whole "relocation" idea you want. He's not that bad once you get used to him. At any rate, Kisuke also told me to tell you he'll be waiting for you and your companion in the underground training room. You'll find the hatch to get to it in the room behind the living room where you and Kisuke were in last night."

"Great, thanks for your help. I can't wait for everything to get some normalcy. Talk to you later, Yoruichi."

"No problem, Starrk," she said, walking off .

" _Hopefully Urahara's tests won't be too vicious. I hope I don't end up like on of Szayel Aporo's experiments."_

* * *

 **So another fortnight, another chapter. Sorry about it being a bit shorter than usual, but I'm using it a transition to some really good stuff in the next chapter that I think y'all will like. At** **least I hope so. I'm gonna be a bit more in my element with the content of next chapter so at the very least it won't be as awkward as the other parts in this mess I call a story. I tried to a little bit of humor in this chapter so as to not make it horrible. Hopefully** **I didn't do too bad with that, so maybe that's something y'all could give me some feedback on. Also, sorry about this being a bit late, I will try to prevent late chapters from happening too much in the future. Once again I apologize. Well, as usual favorite, follow and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!** **You guys have a good couple of weeks and I wish you all luck in whatever endeavors you partake in.**


	8. Chapter 8: Testing! Testing! 1,2,3!

**Disclaimer: I have not gained ownership over Bleach in the past two weeks and am unlikely** **to ever gain ownership, it belongs to it's repective owners.**

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After finally getting myself into a presentable state, I went to the room that Yoruichi had told me about. It was a large, dimly lit room containing many computers and monitors, even a few large capsules, large enough to fit bodies in them, with smaller ones right next to them, that were hooked up to some of the computers. In the corner of the room I saw the hatch. As I started toward it, it opened up. Light streamed out from it and out came Urahara and Halibel.

Halibel was pretty beat up, her Espada uniform now having several cuts in it. She also was scratched up, and bruised in several places . She was also looking pretty tired. Both she and Urahara were panting hard, Urahara being in about the same state that she was.

"Ah, Starrk, there you are. You're a bit late. I'm already finished with Ms. Halibel's tests. If you could just place your zanpakuto into one of the smaller capsules and then hop into its adjacent capsule while I discuss the results of my tests with Halibel, that'd be great."

"Whatever you say Urahara, let's just get this over with," I said walking over to the nearest pod and deposited my zanpakuto and then climbed in my own pod. I silently observed Urahara's conversation with Halibel. The first thing he did was go up to one of the computers, turn it on and show her, something that looked like various statistics. He talked for a while, pointing at each statistic and explaining it.

Throughout the conversation, Halibel didn't seem surprised by anything, just keeping her normal, stoic expression. At the end, just as Urahara was turning toward my pod to begin my examination, Halibel must've said something to stop him. Without turning around he replied, his face starting to show a mischievous smile. A second later the smile was on his face plain as day, he wasn't even trying to hide it at this point. He said one more thing, gave a goodbye and walked over to my capsule as Halibel walked out of the room, stopping at the door to get one last look at me in the capsule before walking out. Urahara pulled out a microphone from behind the computer and plugged it in, before accessing the intercom in the pod.

"Alright, Starrk, I'm going to need you to raise your reiatsu to the maximum for the duration of this part of the test. I will warn you though, this will take a fair amount of time. It could take me anywhere from forty-five minutes to two hours."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," I said pushing my power to it's max. "Hey, Urahara, you mind telling me why you're so interested in us Arrancar?"

"Well there are two primary reasons. One is because the Soul Society has never had any concrete data on living Arrancars. As such when the time comes when you have to reveal yourselves to the Soul Society, we can hand over this data for whatever benefits that could give us at the time. The second is more… difficult to explain. Have you ever heard of something called… Segunda Etapa?"

"Segunda… Etapa? I can't say I've ever heard of it."

"Not surprising. Apparently, only one among your ranks ever obtained this power."

"Who?"

"Ulquiorra Schiffer. Your Cuarto Espada. On Ichigo Kurosaki's quest to save Orihime Inoue, he developed something almost akin to a rivalry with him. In Ichigo's final bout with him, Ulquiorra released this power on top of the canopy that covered Las Noches. Operating under the assumption that all Espada class Arrancar have the ability to reach Segunda Etapa, then it's possible that you should be able reach it."

"And why would you want to do that? Isn't that pretty dangerous, letting top tier Arrancar achieve their ultimate power? And you still really haven't told me what Segunda Etapa is."

"Well with the revelation of Segunda Etapa, it means that normal Resurrección is more akin to a Shinigami's Shikai and the Segunda Etapa being like the Bankai. To us Shinigami who know of it's existence, it's really quite terrifying. As for why I'm going to help you achieve this power, Ichigo Kurosaki is slowly losing his Shinigami powers. Eventually they'll completely disappear. That will leave a large vacancy in the Soul Society's fighting force. Even among captain-level Shinigami, Ichigo was particularly strong, due to his vicious tenacity and his will to protect everyone he cares for. When he loses those powers, there isn't a doubt in my mind that something will try to attack the Soul Society or something along those lines."

"And so you want us to be there to help? What makes you so certain we will?"

"We can't allow anything to upset the balance we have right now. If anything were to majorly disrupt the world of the living, Hueco Mundo, or Soul Society, it would have a large ripple effect on all of the other worlds. So, whether you like it or not, Starrk, if you want to keep the freedom you'll receive by going underground, you'll help us out."

"Guess I got no choice. I'm guessing Halibel agreed to help when you put it like that?"

"She did."

"Well, if she's fine with it then I'm fine with it too."

"Nice to know I have your consent. Fifteen minutes left, Starrk. Keep it up."

"Alright, but before we do the next test, let me have a break," I said, now feeling the effects of straining myself so much.

"Alright Starrk, you can come out now. This test is done," He said as he opened up my pod and handed me my zanpakuto which I promptly put back in it's resting place on my hip. I stepped out of the pod cautiously. My legs were shaking bad and I could barely support myself against the pod. I slowly lowered myself so that I was sitting on the floor. I never had to keep my power at it's absolute maximum for so long in my life. I was utterly exhausted.

"Give me some time to recover, Urahara."

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of making you do the next test in your weakened state."

"What even is the next test?"

"You and I will be going one on one until one of us admits defeat."

"What's the purpose of that?"

"Well the previous test can tell me only so much about you, but by actually sparring with you, I'll be able to see how experienced you are and how you fight among other things," he said. I slowly stood up, feeling better from my moment's rest. I was still a bit shaky, but I figured I was good enough to rumble a few rounds with Urahara.

"Well I think I'm ready to go. Shall we?" I asked Urahara. He nodded and walked over to the hatch, opening it. We then proceeded to climb down the ladder, I was blinded by the light streaming out from the room. When I finally reached the bottom of the ladder, I slowly opened my eyes, getting used to the light I didn't have in the previous room. What I saw surprised me quite a bit, I was absolutely speechless. It was a giant cavern, carved out to look like some kind of rugged training ground. The walls were painted to look like the sky and there was no obvious light source. It seemed to stretch on forever.

"Impressive, isn't it? Tessai and I worked hard to make it. We'll be fighting here. We can go as long and as serious as you wish. It's better if we fight harder so that way I'll be able to make a gigai that suppresses you power more, that way you'll attract less Hollows and have a less diverse effect on the people around you," Urahara said.

"Alright then, let's get this over with," I said.

"I'm so happy you put it that way," he said, immediately drawing his sword from his cane and charging at me with blinding speed. As I drew my sword, we clashed. Clearly he wasn't going to make this easy for me. I started pushing harder and harder, the edges of our blades cutting into each other, making the process more difficult. With a burst of strength I parried his sword. I then jumped to my right to put some distance between us.

Urahara wasted no time and ran after me again. Feinting, slashing, parrying, all the techniques and moves he used were executed flawlessly and with frightful power and precision. I quickly did a parry, putting ludicrous force into it causing Urahara to fly back. I then went on the offensive, performing a spinning trip takedown when he had just landed, and then went to disarm him. He rolled out of the way and quickly got to his feet. The air began to thicken as Urahara started to release his sword.

"Awaken, Benihime."

His sword briefly glowed a brilliant red hue and then revealed it's Shikai. It was a single edged blade with a vertical U-shaped guard that lead down to a handle that went crooked near the pommel. Judging from the size of the handle, it was single handed which promoted speed and technique over strength. He was going to be a tricky bastard. I quickly charged at him, leaving him barely time to react as I prepared a horizontal strike. As I was about to land the blow, a red shield materialized. I adjusted my attack so I struck the edge of the shield closer to the guard on my sword, then applied more force, gradually forcing it to shatter. Urahara jumped back from my attack, that otherwise would have inflicted a pretty good size chest injury.

"Scream Benihime!" he shouted and then swung his sword releasing a red tidal wave of energy at me. I used my sonido to escape the attack, appearing directly behind him for a chance sneak attack. He then used shunpo and disappeared from sight, I used sonido to escape from my location, hiding behind a nearby boulder. If I didn't know where he was is was safer for me to escape so that neither of us knew where the other was. I then charged a cero, aiming it at our previous battlefield. I then discharged it, the attack racing away at a blinding speed and devouring our arena in blue hues.

When the dust cleared, the ground had become completely level, no room to hide, we would just be engaged, no trickery allowed. I sonidoed into the makeshift arena, followed shortly after by Urahara's shunpo. The message from my cero had gotten through. We quickly began a vicious cycle of slashing, dodging and a blur of sonido and shunpo as we fought. We got scratched, beaten, and bruised up as we fought, kicking up stones and debris. As we fought faster and faster, Urahara started to push out more strength and more complex techniques.

My senses felt like I was really waking up. I was actually being pushed and challenged, something that happened rarely in Hueco Mundo. I was inexperienced at fighting with this intensity with a blade, I slowly started to notice little tells before he attacked and started to exploit his opening more. Not with just my sword, but also sending a few punches and kicks. Eventually he launched another one of his special attacks, subsequently causing us to end of scuffle. We stood at opposite ends of the arena, I was panting hard, my inexperience with prolonged conflict was starting to eat at my stamina.

"Why haven't you released your resurreccion yet?" Urahara asked,"I'm going to need you to release so that I can get more data."

"I'm afraid I can't."

"Why would that be?"

"I lost that in the war. Now I'm just left with the phantom pain."

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 **Once again, another two weeks another chapter. I hope I did good with the fight scene. Starrk is back at 100% or rather the closest he can be without resurreccion. What did Halbel say to give Kisuke his trademark "This is gonna be fun," grin? You'll find out in the next coming chapters. Not necessarily the next, possible the one after. This chapter is more around the average size so, hopefully that will make up for the shorter one. Next one may be longer, no** **guarantees. As usual don't forget to Favorite, Follow, most importantly _REVIEW!_** **You fantastic people have a great day and I'll get back to ya when I can.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Reality of Battle

**Disclaimer: Bleach I do not own**

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"Phantom pain, you say? That's an interesting way to describe the loss of your resurreccion," Urahara stated, long ago losing his joking demeanor. "You'll have to explain that more to me when we wrap up here, which should be pretty soon since you can't release."

At his words, I got into a defensive stance to prepare for his next onslaught of attacks. He disappeared a moment later, almost becoming faster than my eyes could follow. He went for a vertical strike at my back. I ducked under the attack and attempted a spinning trip takedown, but he just jumped over my legs and then went to slash at my neck. I rolled to the side and went for a strike at his arms. He jumped back, subsequently allowing me to get up and regain my footing. He wasted no time, immediately coming at me head on, unleashing devastating force despite only wielding his weapon with a single hand. I barely managed to block the attack, however, it came at a price. My wrist was bent at an awkward angle, sending pain through my arm when I attempted to move it to block his next attack.

I sonidoed behind him and launched a barrage of bala at him, managing to score a hit or two. Not waiting for the smoke to clear, I grabbed my wrist and forcibly moved it back to it place. It still hurt like the fires of hell, but now I could at least use it properly. I then started charging a cero. At that moment, Urahara chose to come out to begin his next assault. Startled by the sight of a fully charged cero, I gave him no reaction time and released it. I felt a sharp stab of pain in my back and found myself accelerating toward the ground. As I was about to crash, I launched a bala and let the force from it's blast allow me to decelerate. I landed gently into the resulting crater and awaited Urahara's pursuit.

It didn't take long. He came over and started using his shunpo to quickly change his position around the crater. He moved with grace and ease, gradually speeding up to the point where he was just a blur traveling around and over the crater. I then felt sharp stinging sensations and noticed my uniform was being sliced to pieces. I could still see the blur going around and over the crater and some now beginning to be in the crater.

"Afterimages… Damn," I thought. "He'll have to slow down when he enters or get's out of the crater. The hard part will be finding him. These cuts just keep appearing from out of nowhere."

I closed my eyes and focused on the pain and the cuts. I dove into it, immersed myself in it. Became it. I could feel every stinging open wound. Every bit of dust and dirt that got into them, and gradually as I focused, they started to appear at a slower pace. Eventually to the point of being able to feel the skin being gradually ripped apart on each individual slice . I found him! I slashed, keeping my eyes closed to focused on the pain, but only managed slash his coat. I kept up, nearly getting him every time and only getting closer and closer to landing a severe injury. I felt more dust enter my wounds. He was either speeding up or getting closer, signaling an impending skirmish.

I felt a large cloud of dust rush into me without a strike preceding it. He was attacking! I got into my defensive stance and felt the oppressive force of his blade pressing down on my own. I could feel how the ground cracked and shattered beneath my feet, how the blades sparked as they would wobble ever so slightly. With a burst, he overpowered me, sending me flying through the ground. I somersaulted head over heels, rocks cutting into me, lodging into my skin, creating fist size puncture wounds. I eventually crashed into a large boulder.

I cried out as all the stones lodged throughout my body went deeper. I had some digging into the back of my calves, my back, biceps and even a few had gotten caught in my abdomen. Based on what Urahara said next when I walked out, I must've looked like hell.

"Wow… don't you look like the monster Soul Society thinks you Arrancar are, all covered in blood and those stones and spikes sticking out of you," he said. I was panting hard, my vision was starting to go blurry. I shook my head and blinked. That seemed to help a bit. "Whether you like it or not, you seem to be at your limit, Starrk. How 'bout we head up and get you patched up, eh?"

As much as I wanted to, I was still below this guy's strength in his Shikai. If I couldn't beat him, then I felt as though I wasn't strong. While I hated and still do hate fighting, I hated the thought of not achieving my goal and losing, especially to someone as infuriating as Urahara. I rapidly tensed all muscles, crushing all the stones lodged into them. Now I could move a bit easier. I then began stretching and doing various warm-ups to get my body moving. Gradually some of the rubble fell out of my wounds and all the various holes in my body were more visible. I was now bleeding at what, in hindsight, was probably an alarming rate.

"Nah, I'd say you've gotten me in the mood for a second round. What do ya say, Urahara?" I said, panting. I then launched myself at him, and began to use my sonido to rapidly create a radius of afterimages around him and began attacking from all angles. He fluidly blocked, parried, and dodged. His movements were no longer as effortless as before, either he was tiring or I was surpassing his limit on what he could handle. Then the bastard tripped me. I fell flat on my face and all the wind was knocked out of me. The strain I had put on my body caught up. The stones in my stomach went deeper into my body. My vision started fading and the ground started spinning. In my last few seconds before losing consciousness I heard clapping.

While I thoroughly enjoy sleep, I cannot say the same for being rendered unconscious. There were no dreams of sweet nothings, no nightmares to reinstill that essential primal fear to get you off your high horse. It was cold, hard and showed no emotion. All it was, was a state of wasting time. It wanted to keep you in it's grip and keep you in limbo, all while it stole your life. This time in its clutches was no exception to the pattern. That is, until I woke up.

I bolted awake, writhing in agony. The room was dimly lit with just a light hanging above my torso, illuminating the majority of my body. I knew because I could feel it's intense heat on my back. All of my cuts stung with the fury of one thousand bees. "Halibel! Hold him down! We've ran out of anesthetic! We'll just have to finish operating without it! Yoruichi! Call Isshin! Now! We'll need him to make sure Starrk recovers quickly!" the voice of Urahara shouted. I felt a force pin down my arms to the ground. I then felt another weight straddling my back, presumably Urahara. "Sorry for the rude awakening, Starrk. We managed to pull the crushed up remains of those stones out of your torso. Those were the most worrisome ones. We now have to get the rubble out of your arms and legs. I'm sorry for what we'll be putting you through in the the next twelve hours."

"Twelve hours?! The hell Urahara?!" I grunted

"We need to be sure to get every last piece. If we aren't careful, we might miss a piece that could pass into your bloodstream, which could pose the danger of causing a clot. Though your reiatsu would, over time, disintegrate it, we don't want to risk it. We'll be getting a more experienced doctor in a few hours. Hopefully."

I sighed, "Just get it done, please. Just let me be able to rest in piece."

"As you wish," he said solemnly and began to pluck out pieces. I cried out as his tools touched my bleeding flesh and bone. They dug in viciously, causing my arm to try to thrash wildly. Halibel's grip tightened and forced my arm down. She eventually had to use both her arms to restrain my left arm. I grimaced and winced with each violent prod and poke. Every fiber of my being wanted to get out of that room, to escape from this terrible pain.

"That's one wound done, Starrk. Four more on this arm and then six on the other. Then I'll switch to take care of your legs."

The next wound felt worse than the last. Slowly my resolve to not show my agony eroded. By the end of the third hole, my voice had started to go hoarse from my shouts of pain. At the fourth hole I lost my voice, left only to writhe and silently scream at the heavens as even my voice abandoned this now wretched body of mine. Sweat covered my body, my hair was plastered to my neck and shoulders. I greedily drank when Halibel held a water bottle for me. In that moment, I saw her as a beautiful angel of mercy. Eventually my strength faded from me and I had nothing but the moments charged with pain as Urahara continued on my arm.

When Halibel and Urahara finally understood how drained I was they stopped pinning me down. There were large, heavy, black bruises on my arms and back from how hard I had struggled and how hard they had fought back. After a suggestion from Halibel, they carefully dragged my body so that my arm was in the direct center of the spotlight. I was trapped in this hell. Unable to get out, unable to scream, unable to writhe, unable to die.

Halibel eventually came over to me, a concerned look etched upon her face. Urahara pulled another stone out. I shamefully whimpered. She looked down upon me, intensifying the shame that cloaked me. I looked away. I didn't want her to see me in this moment of weakness. I felt her cool hands grab hold of my face and lift my head. She stared at me directly into my eyes, searching for… something in them. I asked what she saw, whatever it was she didn't seem to find it repugnant. I could see her mind then switch focuses. Her facial expression softened and her eyes gained a glint of worry.

"Sorry… for being so weak, Halibel," I whispered weakly, crying out as Urahara took another pebble out.

In a surprising show of sympathy, she laid my head down upon her lap and started running her hand through my hand. I felt good to have her pleasantly cool hand on my feverishly warm head. I was thoroughly shocked by her actions, expecting something more along the lines of anything from another drink, to a pillow for my head. I was not expecting this. I never would have expected this. Back in Los Noches, Halibel rarely showed sympathy or mercy toward anyone but her Fraccion, and even they didn't receive much.

"I really must be one hell of a pathetic mess for her to do this," I thought.

I gratefully accepted her sympathy and kindness. In this desert of pain, I would accept whatever waters of kindness I could find. Urahara plucked another stone from my arm. My face contorted in pain and I started clenching my left fist, digging my nails into the skin in an attempt to control the excruciating pain in my other arm. From the warm feeling in my hand, I instantly broke the skin. Halibel must have seen this because she then took my hand, giving it a brief, disapproving look. She stopped stroking my head and turned it so that once again I was looking at her face. She lifted my arm so that my bleeding hand was in my sight, and she gave it a slight squeeze, silently signaling that if I needed a release for the pain I could squeeze her hand. I gently squeezed back… and then Urahara moved onto the final hole. All my resistance to the pain was gone. My back arched, my muscles tensed, and I squeezed her hand with all the strength my weakened self had.

This time around the pain wasn't leaving. It kept twisting and stabbing me, getting stronger. I was at the point where I almost would have prefered if they had cut off my arm. The only thing that kept me rooted in reality, that let me know that I wasn't in hell, was Halibel's hand being crushed beneath my grip. "Sorry about that, Starrk," Urahara said after the pain subsided a bit. "A piece of the rubble got stuck in an artery."

"Maybe you should let a real doctor handle this now, eh Urahara?" said a gruff voice.

"Ah, Isshin! I was beginning to wonder when you'd get here."

"I had to make sure everyone in the house was asleep or, in Ichigo's case, preoccupied before I could come, since I normally have a policy against house calls. Now, mind if I takeover before you kill this kid?"

"Be my guest. I just finished removing the rubble from his arms, However there are still several holes in his legs," Urahara said as he then stood up and stretched, audibly cracking his joints from having to hunch over me for so long.

I felt my pants legs slowly being lifted up to reveal the holes in my calves and then a strong hand holding down my right leg. "Sorry about this. If it's any consolation, I won't be jabbing you as much as Kisuke probably did. My name is Isshin by the way, Isshin Kurosaki."

"Coyote Starrk. It's a real pleasure. Let's get this done," I growled, my good nature having left me awhile ago. I heard him take of the coat he was wearing and some faint mumbling. "Probably examining the wounds," I thought. "Already he's a better doctor than Urahara seeing as how he would just dive right into each one."

Slowly and carefully Isshin started the delicate process of removing the stones from my legs. Once in awhile I would feel a slight poke on my exposed flesh and just I was about to squeeze Halibel's hand for all it was worth, the poke would be gone. Isshin worked quickly and efficiently, with experience and skill that I had never seen in the mediocre sick bays of Las Noches. I eventually heard Isshin get up and stretch, cracking his back in the process.

"You taking a break, Doc?" I asked.

"A small one. Then I'll be moving onto your other leg," he said casually.

"What?! You're already done with my right leg?! It took Urahara hours to do one of my arms," I exclaimed.

"I guess that's what a good few years of medical experience can give ya," He said.

I eventually felt him examine my left leg and let out a whistle.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Bad enough that I'll need to put you under for the procedure. However, my clinic doesn't have the resources to do so. Not to mention, I'm not an anesthesiologist. I'm going to have to call in some favors from a friend. Just be warned, he probably won't help you."

"Why's that?" Halibel asked.

"Because he really hates Hollows. And he hates Shinigami almost as much. So to ask him to treat an Arrancar… I think you get the picture," Isshin explained. Halibel nodded. I nervously swallowed.

"How much will it hurt if you can't convince him?" I asked.

"Enough that we'll both be having nightmares from it."

"How long do you think convincing him will take?" Urahara asked.

"Depending on what kind of mood he's in at this time of night, anywhere from five minutes to an hour. While I talk to him, you guys just chill. Besides it might be good for Starrk to have a break."

"Alright," Halibel replied. Isshin solemnly nodded and then walked out of the room, with his phone in hand.

* * *

 **Starrk concludes his spar with Kisuke and winds up getting pretty banged up. The question now is, will he endure hell or will the pleading of Isshin Kurosaki grant him amnesty from the pain? I'm back once again, this time a day early. I tried to develop Starrk and Halibel's relationship a bit more. Hopefully, it didn't seem too awkward and clumsy. As always _please_ don't be afraid to give me some feedback or just give your opinion on the story. Review, Favorite, Follow, etc. You all have a wonderful two weeks.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Beginnings of a Plan

**First off, I owe you all a huge apology. I'll do some much needed explaining after the chapter. For now on with the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way, shape, or form.**

* * *

We waited patiently while Isshin was in the other room. At certain points we could hear him raising his voice, yelling and screaming at his friend on the other end. Though, from the names they were calling each other, it sounded like a very complicated friendship. I don't know how long it took because I would fade in and out of consciousness. When Isshin came out of the room, he wore a tired look on his face and mumbled, "You'd think the bastard would lighten up eventually."

"What's the verdict?" I tiredly asked.

"He's coming. He'll be taking his sweet time. Just… ah… don't get in his way."

After about an hour or so I heard what was presumably Isshin's "friend". He came into the room silently. He wore a solid, snow white suit. Even his hair was devoid of color, being a pale silver. His eyes held a certain amount of disgust for everything that surrounded him. He held a confident aura of superiority. This superiority was not from arrogance, but from being intelligent and having experience at winning and gaining control no matter who or what tried to overthrow him. He gave me a piercing glare giving me a quick once over.

"So, this is the trash you want me to treat."

"While I understand you disdain, Ryuuken, if you instigate a fight, even the both of us together could have a bit of trouble if we're not careful," warned Isshin.

"Don't give them so much credit. Isshin, help me get the anesthesia and other equipment out of the back of the car."

When Ryuuken and Isshin finally set up all the equipment, Ryuuken then went to inspect my leg. After some brief examination and a discussion with Isshin rife with medical jargon, he came to the same conclusion as Isshin had before. They then slowly proceeded to prep me and eventually, just as the sun was beginning to rise, I was put under.

* * *

I awoke at sundown in one of the medical rooms in the house. When I tried to move, I found my entire body covered with bandages. My regeneration had kicked in while I was out after the operation. The smaller cuts and scrapes were gone and the holes were significantly smaller. I looked to the left side and could see a black cat sleeping on a chair that was next to my bedside. On my right was various machinery with a display of my vitals, and the door that led to the rest of the house.

I slowly moved myself into a more comfortable position so that I could fall back asleep, and was about to, when an unfamiliar voice said, "Oh, you're awake. You had us a bit worried." I felt a weight settle on top of my chest and looked up to see the cat now sitting on my chest. I looked around for the owner of the voice, but found no one else in the room. The cat then went to sit on my lap as I once again repositioned myself so that I could sit up.

"Who's there and what happened?" I called out to the empty room.

"A large piece of rubble was knocked into one of your veins. We had to have Halibel beat you up a bit to try to get you to wake up and release a large burst of reiatsu to disintegrate it," said the voice again. "You did a bit more than disintegrate the piece. You ended up almost bringing the roof down on our heads. On the brightside it got rid of all the rubble in your wounds, letting Ryuuken and Isshin focus on fixing you up before letting your regeneration kick in."

Idle-mindedly I began petting the cat. Not bothering to question the conversation with an invisible person. "You know, explaining what happened to you while you were out is kind of hard when I have to resist purring."

"How drugged up am I? I don't think think that cats can talk." I asked the cat in my lap, praying I was in some kind of drug induced delusion.

"You're correct, cats can't talk, but _I_ can." Mist started rising from the cat, obscuring it from my view. It started to grow larger and light started flashing from the mist. Next thing I knew, Yoruichi was standing on top of me, completely in the nude. I quickly shut my eyes.

"What? W-W-WHAT?! The HELL Yoruichi?!" I sputtered, feeling my cheeks heat up from the awkward situation.

"Wow. Your prudishness rivals Ichigo's. Never expected that from the Primera Espada."

"Well, I prefer to not be a pervert, unlike you."

"Yoruichi!" Urahara yelled from outside the room, "If you're done tormenting the poor soul, I need to tell him about the plans for his integration."

"Oh all right. I'll be out in a second," she yelled back, transformed into her cat form once again, and walked out.

Urahara walked into the room, eyed all the machinery, took a quick look at my vitals, and then sat down beside me. He quietly whistled and drummed his fingers on the arms of the chair. After a moment of awkward silence he finally spoke.

" _SO_! In the acquiring of a house it turns out that when configuring all the variables that go into successfully relocating you, ugh…"

"Spit it out, Urahara!" I said, growing more agitated. He inaudibly whispered his response.

"Urahara…" I growled.

"I HAD TO MAKE IT SO THAT YOU AND HALIBEL WOULD BE LIVING TOGETHER!" he screamed in panic.

"And does Halibel know?"

"Yes."

"Well then, the fact that you're alive and screaming at me means that she isn't completely opposed at this. Now mind telling me which variables influenced this decision?"

"For starters, you two would appear to be a couple which would be less conspicuous. You would also be in close contact in case any kind of situation were to come up and we were to need your assistance," he slowly rambled off as he was obviously creating these on the spot.

"You frugal bastard," I said.

"Caught red-handed. At any rate you'll be moving in roughly a week. We've paid for various pieces of furniture and have set up a bank account with a large sum of money that you can draw upon whenever you don't have enough money for whatever reason. Of course you'll also have to have jobs to avoid suspicions. We'll also try to slowly introduce you to Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends. If you're going to conduct any activities, it's best to be on their good side. Besides their nice kids. You'll like 'em"

"Alright. Doesn't sound like too much of a hassle. What kind of job would I be doing?"

"We were think of you being a teacher."

"What kind?"

"What subjects were you good at back when you were human?"

"Hmmm… That's tough. That was a long… looong… time ago. If I remember correctly, I was pretty good at language arts. As well as physics. And if I recall I was a pretty good musician. A mighty fine fiddler. That's what my father used to say. As a music teacher, he was a slave driver. But as a single father, he was a pretty good one. When he was done teaching me, I could see a lot of pride in his eyes."

"So you know how to play a violin?"

"Among other instruments."

"Hmm… As much as I want you to be able to be a teacher in Ichigo's school, I'd hate to see that kind of skill wasted. Plus I guess it might be better to have you teaching music lessons. Gives you a bit more flexibility to go hunt Hollows. Whether Ichigo and his friends would like to admit it, they need to devote a bit more of their lives to their school work. Even though they're at the top of their class, we can't have them slipping up. After all, Ichigo isn't the brightest bulb in the shed and they'll eventually have responsibilities in this world that may take a bit more precedence than their obligations to purify Hollows."

"Whatever you say, Urahara. As you know what's going on, I imagine we'll do fine."

"Alright. I'll leave to your own thoughts then. We'll discuss this in further detail when you've completely healed. Have a good evening, Starrk."

"You too, Urahara." He nodded and then stood up, stretched, and left the room. I was quite surprised that Halibel hadn't killed Urahara when he told her the news. I had no doubt that she wasn't completely okay with this, but her being her, she was willing if it meant the first step toward a normal, and maybe, just maybe, a maybe that is a silent prayer in the back of your head, the part that even your dreams can't hear, that wants a peaceful life.

I actually didn't mind having to live with her. She had a good head on her shoulders and as long as I didn't offend her, I wouldn't be killed. More importantly was the fact that it would prevent the degradation that I would go through in isolation. When you spend so long in isolation, no matter how used to it you get, it doesn't make you immune to it. If anything it can make you weaker to it. So really this was a good thing. With my daily minimum requirement of thinking fulfilled, I settled back into the bed.

" _The plus side to being injured; I get to be as lazy as I want and nobody will yell at me._ "

* * *

 **Sooooo, next chapter I'll have moving in stuff and maybe some stuff with their first day on their jobs. Now onto a much needed explanation. So in the original first two weeks, I was trying to buy a french horn because I'm a bit of a musician. Eventually found one that I could afford. After a few days of testing it out and comparison with some other horns, I came to the decision that it wasn't the quality I was looking for. Looked around some more, got distracted. I also have been trying to take the CSWA exam to become a Certified Solidworks Associate. However there have been various obstacles that I am still trying to tackle. I don't mean these as an excuse for my tardiness, merely an explanation. Whenever I have a late chapter if one of you would be willing to pm me to ask why, or simply be like "Hey, don't forget to post that chapter". Because I may need that. Once again I'm sorry for the tardiness and also for the shortness of the chapter. You all have a wonderful two weeks.**


	11. Chapter 11: Musician Behind the Wall

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach and all of it's characters are property of Tite Kubo**

* * *

And so the week finally came when Halibel and I would move into our new home. It was a cozy, two story house. The interior was mostly white, but we didn't mind all too much. We had a large den occupying the majority of the first floor which then connected to a small kitchen hidden behind a large counter. The living room had a few furnishings like a large sofa, two additional chairs and a small coffee table at the center. Tucked away in the corner of the living room was a beautiful, ebony piano with many other other assorted working instruments hung up on the wall by it. In the opposite corner was the spiraling stairwell that led to the upstairs. The upstairs had one large master bedroom that connected to a master bathroom and then a walk-in closet. Perpendicular to the entrance to master bedroom were two smaller bedrooms and then another bathroom next to them. I honestly had no idea what we'd do with all the room. I decided to take one of the smaller bedrooms because I really didn't need much and because I thought that Halibel would appreciate the room and separation the master bedroom gave. I was happy as long as I had a comfy place to rest my head at the end of the day.

All the furniture and such had already been moved in before we came and so we could just get in and adjust until Urahara dropped by and ran everything over with us. Just as I was about to thoroughly test the quality of the couch, the doorbell rang. " _Dang neighbors and their obligations to welcome us_ ," I thought as I peeled myself off of my second favorite piece of furniture.

When I opened the door I saw a tall, tan, muscular high schooler who I recognized as Yasutora Sado, one of Ichigo's friends who helped him storm Las Noches, and Ms. Orihime Inoue.

At first Orihime took a brief double take, but quickly recovered.

"Hello… Mr… umm… Starrk sir," she said unsure of how to address me.

"Just Starrk will be fine. I assume that since you aren't trying to kill me that you've been informed of the situation."

"Yes we have. I actually leave right down the street so we'll be neighbors," Orihime said.

"Well then, if you ever need anything from myself or Halibel, feel free to come over any time. Same goes for you, Sado," I said, pleased that the hadn't resulted in fisticuffs.

"Thank you. Also call me Chad. Everyone else does," he replied.

"Chad it is," I said as I reached out and shook his hand.

"Seeing as how you two went out of your way to stop by, can I offer you a drink or some food before you go?" I asked, intent on keeping my manners so that we all got off on the right foot.

"No thank you, we're going to be meeting up with Ichigo and Rukia pretty soon and we don't want to be late," Orihime answered.

"Alright, you kids take care." I said as I closed the door. I sighed in relief, thankful that the encounter went well.

"Good to know that Urahara has informed them of our situation," Halibel said from behind me.

"Yeah, for a second I was a bit worried. Because they can use their powers without having to go into a soul form, they could easily attack the house or us and we'd be nearly powerless to stop them until we eat a soul candy."

"That would've been quite problematic."

"So...um… how do you like the house?" I asked, trying to make small talk. If we had to live together, I'd rather we not live in silence during the rare moments when I'm awake.

"It's not displeasing. Lots of light, plenty of space and also it seems Urahara stocked you up on instruments. I hope you're good or else we might have some problems."

"I may be a bit rusty at first but I imagine, I should be able to get back in shape fairly quick. So what job did Urahara set you up with?"

"I'm going to be working at an instrumental repair shop"

"Interesting. I didn't know you could do that. Did you play play much?"

"Not really. Just learned a few things so that I wasn't completely musically illiterate. Why don't you start practicing now? I have some things I need to sort out on the computer and if you're as good as Urahara said you were, it would be nice to have it in the background." Unlike me, Halibel had made a very easy transition with the modern technology. To me it was baffling and confusing. For now we had come to the silent consensus that she would handle any and all thing technology related.

"Alright," I said getting up and moving over to the corner in which Urahara had put all the instruments.

 **Halibel POV**

After I had gone and got the computer, Starrk was still standing in the corner choosing his instrument. After another six or seven minutes of thinking he finally chose the guitar. Ulike Starrk, who held the instrument like the complex contraption he had never seen it was, I had a died in a more recent time period and knew a bit more about music than I may have let on. Urahara had gotten him two guitars; one a black Gibson ES-335 and the other an Ibanez Iceman IC500. He had chosen the Gibson. Slowly he dragged his pick across each string and tuned them. He no longer held his usual look of lethargy. His eyes were hawk-like and his body was tense as he quickly looked over the fretboard, trying to figure out the instrument. Gradually he relaxed and started playing. It was a soft, slow open chord progression. He transitioned fluidly from each chord to the next. He then paused once again examining the instrument.

He then started another chord progression, but this one was different. It was dark and filled with angst. Occasionally he would break from the cords and do a quick riff and would quickly return to the chords. Gradually it became more reminiscent of a classical piece. His brow furrowed and he gradually sped up, his hand soaring up the neck. He then slowed and and kept the melody quiet and subdued. He continued playing this small, quiet, for another minute or so and then ended it on a tense minor chord. His eyes didn't brighten up, his brow didn't unfurrow. He slowly removed the instrument from his lap. He sat there, unmoving. He didn't twitch, he didn't blink and he barely moved.

"... Starrk?... Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

I got up and slowly walked over to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and jumped a bit and blinked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"W-What?" he asked shakily.

"You spaced out there. What happened?" I was abit worried about him. Normally, Starrk was always calm, cool and collected. Even when the odds would suddenly turn against him, he would never be visibly shaken. It must have been something personal. Especially since he didn't seem like the type to get all mushy after a song.

"It was… nothing. Sorry if I worried you." He started to get up.

"You're holding back. What were you thinking about?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what came over me. I guess I just spaced out. Sorry for worrying you."

"It's fine. By the way, Urahara and Yoruichi are going to be coming over for dinner. They're going to be bringing Thai food, you should get dressed into something a bit more presentable." He looked down at himself. He was wearing a plain white tank top and some worn out jeans. I myself was wearing a white button-down shirt and a pair of black jeans.

"Whatever you say," he replied as he slowly got up to go change.

* * *

When Starrk came down again, he was wearing a silver button-down shirt and some jeans that were in better condition. He still managed to have his permanent "just got out of bed look", though to be honest, it suited him and if he didn't look like that then I would probably mistake him for a stranger.

"This better?" he asked as the doorbell rang.

"Doesn't matter if you weren't, since they're here," I said as I walked toward the door.

"That still isn't an answer!" he called.

"You're _fine,_ " I called back. I then swung open the door to see the smiling face of Yoruichi while Urahara was drowning in bags of Thai food. "Come on in you two."

"Thank you, Halibel," Yoruichi said as she came in and gawked over the house. I only half listened as she complimented it, not really caring about such things too much. I snapped out of when she yelled, " Come on, Kisuke. We didn't order _that_ much food."

Urahara and Starrk were standing over by the counter next to ten large bags of Thai food.

"Yoruichi, I've done the math. If you keep making orders like these, you could put my shop out of business in around a week."

"Then just buy cheaper food."

"That's the thing, I did that calculation with prices from the cheapest restaurant in town."

"KISUKE! You're so mean! Don't you know it's not polite to talk about such things?"

"I figure you have the right to know why my shop could go out of business."

"Whatever. Let's just eat already. I'm sure Halibel and Starrk are starving."

"Alright."

We got out the food and ate. Yoruichi immediately descended upon the food and ate with the vigor of a ravenous wolf. Urahara would carefully grab a dish whenever he could before she could finish devouring the dish she was on. Starrk eventually caught onto the technique and was able to get his share. I however could not catch on and each time as I was about to get a dish, she would steal it right as I was about to clasp it. After seeing my failed attempts, Starrk snatched my a few containers for me. I gave him a silent thank-you and happily dug in.

"So, how are you two enjoying the house? Did we find a good one?" Urahara asked.

"I can't speak for Halibel, but I like it. Then again, I'm happy as long as there's a roof over my head."

"I also like it. It has a lot of room, lot's of natural light, and great acoustics."

"I take it that from the acoustics comment that Starrk lives up to his reputation?"Yoruichi asked.

"I would say so. He played beautifully today."

"What did he play on?"

"He played on of the guitars you gave him."

"And what kind of things did he play?"

"It's hard to say, but if I had to label it, then it sounded a lot like a classical piece."

"Wow Starrk, didn't know you play guitar too."

"I don't," he said flatly. He looked extremely uncomfortable. Like the talk of his prowess was driving a sword into his gut.

"What do you mean you don't?" Yoruichi pressed.

"I mean today was the first time I've ever played the guitar."

"Did it sound like he was playing for the first time, Halibel?" Urahara asked, starting to take some interest into the topic.

"If I hadn't seen him first examine the instrument with the scrutiny he used, the I would have thought he had been playing for years.

"I gave those guitars for him to gradually learn and eventually be able to teach more people if he wished. But to think he would already be so proficient at an instrument he just picked up… You truly are some thing thing else, Coyote Starrk."

"I'm flattered and all, but if we could change the topic that would be much appreciated," Starrk said with a look on his face like he was going to be sick and something told me that face wasn't from the food.

"No need to be so modest, Starrk. It's a wonderful skill. You should be proud of it," Yoruichi said.

"It's not so much that I'm ashamed of it. it's just that whenever I hear compliments about my music, I just start feeling sick to my stomach."

"It's probably best if we do switch topics then, Yoruichi. It would be quite rude of us to make him sick."

"Oh fine, Kisuke," she pouted. The rest of the meal was pleasantly fine. As we meandered around other various topics, both Starrk and myself would laugh at Urahara and Yoruichi's antics. As the night winded down, Urahara broke out the drinks. As we got a bit more tipsy I could see how everyone was affected different. Urahara became a bit more… snarky, Yoruichi became a bit more rambunctious, and Starrk… well… became a bit more like himself. He moved a bit more sluggishly, talked a bit slower, and despite the increased lethargy, he still seemed fully conscious of his surroundings and still actively participated in the conversation. Once Urahara and Yoruichi had gave their good-byes and left, I turned from the door to see Starrk face-down on the couch.

"You still awake, Starrk?" I asked.

"Mmmph," he grunted. I laughed. The way he acted was a lot more like a cat than the namesake of his zanpakuto. I grabbed a blanket that had been lying on the back of the couch and threw it over him. He quickly curled up into it and shuddered in bliss. I just couldn't help but smile at seeing him take such pleasure out of something so simple.

As I climbed the stairs I called out, "Sweet dreams, Starrk." To which I heard the faint reply,

"Goodnight, Halibel."

* * *

 **Another two weeks, another chapter. And so with the latest instalment we find that Starrk has an aversion to talking about his prowess and that Halibel also knows a thing or two about music. This chapter was pretty fun to write and it does seem kind of fitting that they have a dinner-party -get-together-thing around Thanksgiving which I just celebrated here in America. And now after being in a food coma for two days, I'm back. Though in all honesty, I'm almost not joking about the food coma. Whenever my mother cooks for our family get togethers, she makes enough food to feed a crowd two to three times as large. If only I had heard skill in cooking. When it comes time for me to host soon I'm afraid that I'll probably jst have to ask for a potluck. At any rate thank you all once again for the continued support and don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review since that helps me drag more people into the half-written mess this story may turn into(hopefully it won't be _too_ bad though when all is said and done). I will see all you fantastic people in the next chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12: Day in the Park

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach belongs to its repected owners.**

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 **Starrk POV**

About a week later I started giving my first lessons. They went over well. The children that weren't brats would learn well. Those that were… well that was their problem, not mine. If they didn't want to learn and wouldn't even try, that was their decision. As for Halibel, she dove head first into her work. Most days she would bring the instruments she was working on back home. I'd often hear her working when I was doing various chores like making dinner or doing dishes. Sometimes I'd wake up late at night and have to tell her how late it was so that way she could get some rest. I learned that I had to do that because I once found her in the morning in the exact same spot as the night before, continuing to diligently work as if no time had passed.

She also had been keeping up her usual indifferent persona, though, either I was getting used to it, or she was starting to turn down the slight edge in her words she would use around people she wasn't well acquainted with. We mostly made small talk or were silent.

At any rate, it was Sunday morning. I had my day off and was lying down on the couch, wearing jeans and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up. I had taken a liking to the look and usually wore something similar to it. Meanwhile, Halibel, who was wearing a black top and jeans, was at her workstation otherwise known as the kitchen counter when we weren't eating. It had been a peaceful morning, until our resident denizen of chaos rang the doorbell. Halibel got up and trudged over to the door before looking into the peephole."

"It's for you," she said before racing upstairs. I was slightly confused at the action and that should've been my first clue to tell me who was at the door. When I looked through the peephole, I felt a spine chilling fear I had not felt since my first days as a Hollow. I was staring at the cheshire grin of Kisuke Urahara. Begrudgingly, I opened the door and let him in.

"Why, Starrk, how come you have such a gloomy face? Trouble in paradise?" He asked cheekily.

"I was having a relatively good morning until you showed up."

"You're so cruel! I actually came here to tell you something important."

"What is it, Urahara?" I sighed.

"I need both you and Halibel to commence training," he said as he suddenly became far more serious.

"When?"

"After work starting tomorrow. You and Halibel will come the training ground. Your main objective will first be to train up Halibel to your level of strength."

"Not sure how well I'll be able to do it seeing as how I'm not at full power and that I've never taught anyone"

"As far as I can tell, you're at full power. It's just that for whatever reason you can't access your release. As you start training again you'll still get stronger and we'll try to figure out how to help you get your resurreccion. Once you get it back, you'll be extremely stronger, especially if we pit you against Halibel in her released state."

"What about Segunda Etapa?"

"We'll cross that road once you two are on par with each other and can't get much more out of fighting each other. If that happens and you two still aren't completely ready, then I'll call in some favors and we'll get some new opponents for you."

"Sounds good. I'll inform Halibel. Anything else before you leave?"

"You really are quite anxious on getting me out, eh Starrk? Unfortunately, I really do have nothing left to say. See you tomorrow Starrk," Urahara called as I practically pushed him out of the house. I sighed as I closed the door. I then slowly walked up to Halibel's room and knocked on the door.

"Is he gone, Starrk?" she called from behind the door.

"Yeah, Halibel. The bad man's gone now. It's safe."

She came out with a smirk on her lips asked, "What did he want?"

"He wants me to train you. Then he'll try and get me back my release."

"When do we start?"

"After work tomorrow."

"Alright. Do you have any plans for today?" she asked, tilting her head.

"No, nothing in particular planned. Why? Do you need me for something?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about to the park and was wondering if you wanted to come. You spend all your time here after work. You need some fresh air."

"But it's so far away," I complained.

"Maybe so, but knowing you, I'd bet you'd like to have a good nap there. Am I right?" she said with a hint of smugness.

"You win. When do you want to go?"

"I'm all set. Let's go."

"Alright," I said. We then proceeded to go down stairs after she went and got her purse and her black jacket, and put our shoes on, mine being dress shoes and hers being black boots. It was a pretty decent autumn day. It was early enough in the season so that it was neither too hot or cold. The leaves were just starting to turn. A few children were out playing in the neighborhood. Halibel and I slowly made our way to the city. We made small talk on the way to the part we had visited on our first evening in the city. I asked her how she liked her job. She told me about how she liked the work, but would constantly have people hitting on her, be it her coworkers or customers.

"So how do you plan on handling it?" I asked.

"I can't threaten every customer that does it or it might be bad for business, not to mention I could get in trouble for doing it."

"I really don't know how to help you there, but if there is anyway I can, I'd be more than happy to do it."

"I'll hold you to it," she said as we neared the city. "How do you like your job?"

"It's good enough, I guess. Kids will be kids. The young ones are either brats or timid kids forced to learn. As for the older ones, they aren't too bad."

"That's good. What do you think we should do for dinner?"

"You're asking this early in the day?"

"Well, if you're going to go into a coma in the park, then I figure that by the time we get back home, it would be time for dinner."

"Then why don't we just pick something up on the way back?" I said.

"Sounds good," she said. We were now nearing the central plaza of the city. It was bustling with people bustling about, casually strolling through their lives. We settled into a not uncomfortable silence as we got closer to our destination. Eventually, we arrived at the park we had been to on our first day in the city. It was exactly like it was then. Still full of children and their parents, and still with many available napping spots.

"Lead the way. I don't know near as much about finding a good napping spot as you," she said. I nodded and slowly walked around the park, checking out all the trees, the ground by them, debating on whether I wanted the sun or the shade and other such things. I eventually choose a sunny spot by a cluster of trees. As the afternoon would wear on, the shade would cover me and shield me from the sun.

"Is here good for you?" I asked.

"Any place is fine," she replied, indifferent as usual. I lied down and got comfortable, closing my eyes and started to try to fall asleep. I heard her sit down next to me and take a book out of her purse. With the sound of her soft breathing and the turning of pages every so often, I started to doze. It was a soft, warm doze. I would wake up every now again, only to be lulled to sleep by Halibel's rhythmic breathing and page turning. At around 3 o'clock or so, I found I could not go back to sleep. At first I merely sat with my eyes closed, content to just rest, but I eventually desired some form of stimulus.

"Hey, Halibel?" I asked quietly, hearing her jump slightly. She probably wasn't expecting me to be anywhere near conscious at this time. "Why did you choose to hide out in the world of the living? You could have easily have gone back to Hueco Mundo and became the next ruler, yet, you didn't. Why?"

She stayed silent for a time as she composed and answer and then said, "I don't really have anything left back there. No friends or comrades, just empty sand and mindless beasts."

"That can't be all the reasons. Why else?" I pressed.

"Also because I knew that without Lilynette, you would've turned into a mess without someone else there. I didn't want to encounter the Primera and see him in a state of weakness." I realized she was right. If she hadn't come with me, I likely would've just lied around on the floor of the house licking my emotional wounds and sleeping.

"I guess I owe you a 'thank you' then, " I said as I sat up. I then brushed shome of the grass and leaves out of my hair.

"Well, at least you're not a pain to live with," she replied with a smirk. She then tentatively reached out and brushed a leaf I missed out of my hair. We then both got up and started to walk home. After picking up a simple meal of ramen, we went home and ate a quiet dinner. Following dinner I did the dishes again while Halibel was starting to putting away her tools and packing everything up so she could have everything packed up for Monday.

"Hey, Starrk?" She called as she was starting to go upstairs.

"Yeah?" I asked not looking up from the dishes.

"Could you be my boyfriend?"

"What?!" I asked incredulously as I whipped my head over to where she was standing.

"Starting tomorrow if you could pick me up from work, that'd be great."

"What?!" I asked louder, my disbelief increasing.

"I'll take that as a yes. Have a good night, Starrk," She called as she went upstairs.

"What?!"

* * *

 **The normal reserved Halibel** **asks Starrk to be her boyfriend. Poor guy is probably not gonna sleep tonight as he tries to figure this out. Sorry for the delay. Plot is actually going to start developing next chapter so hooray for that. Not too much else to say. Please continue to Favorite, Follow and Review, I always appreciate the support and if you ever have any advice on what I can do to make this better, please tell me so that I can improve. I always appreciate constructive critiscism, plus I'm still handing out brownie points to whoever does do that. As always you wonderful people have a fantastic time.**


	13. Chapter 13: Maniae Rapping on the Door

**Disclaimer: I, as usual, own nothing in any way shape or abstract form.**

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 **Starrk POV**

That night, I didn't get near as good a sleep as I normally would. I was quite shocked by her statement. I was really going to ask her about it in the morning. She wasn't so.. forward in that manner. I spent the entire night fretting by what she meant and what she might've wanted. When my alarm went off in the morning I was already awake. My bones creaked and protested as I got up to get ready for the day. When I looked in the mirror after my shower, I could see dark bags under my eyes, something that I hadn't seen in decades. As I made my way downstairs, I saw Halibel calmly going about her daily routine. I casually strolled down stairs, suppressed all of the killing intent inside me, made myself a bowl of cereal, and sat down next to Halibel.

 **Halibel POV**

Today, so far had been going like any other Monday. I had a bit of fun messing with Starrk last night and I hoped he wasn't too sore over it. I had figured out how to get some of the people off my back. I was going to have Starrk pose as my boyfriend and then possibly have him "coerce" any people who didn't get the message that I wasn't interested. However, when I saw Starrk, at first he didn't seem too upset. Then I noticed something was different about him. He had bags under his eyes! This didn't look good for me especially as he started to release more and more killer intent.

"How are you this morning, Starrk? I see you got up earlier than usual" I asked timidly. He was usually still sleeping by the time I was about to go to work. His head turned at me faster than a gunshot, and he had a crazed look in his eye's, with one even twitching and he was almost foaming at the mouth.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS SLEEP! IS THIS A NEW THING YOU'LL BE DOING NOW?! DRIVING ME INSANE?..." he shouted and eventually started a mindless rant, shouting gibberish, accompanied with various hand motions and arm movements. He then started screaming and slamming his head onto the countertop. He eventually buried his head in his arms and softly wept.

"...Starrk? Mind helping me understand what's wrong?" I asked, trying to sound a bit more compassionate even though I was shocked by his outburst. Starrk muttered out a bit more gibberish, but I did hear the word sleep and it all clicked in my head. "Starrk… how many hours of sleep did you get last night?" I asked, now gently rubbing his shoulder.

"I don't know!" he choked out, "Two… Three hours maybe?"

The last time Starrk had gotten this little sleep, Lilynette had to guard his room from any person that would've been stupid enough to go into the room of the sleep deprived and half-crazed Primera for fear of what he would do when interrupted. That had been a couple of decades ago.

"Alright," I said, thinking fast, "Here's the plan I'll leave a bit early for work, stop by your work and leave a note on your door saying that your are sick so that way you don't have tons of angry parents calling you about missing their kid's lesson. Meanwhile, you rest here until around four. Then I'm going to need you to pick me up from work. I'll leave a note just in case you forget since you're kinda out of it right now." As went to write a note for him, I heard him mutter something.

"You're going to have to speak up, I didn't quite catch that."

"Why did you ask me to be your boyfriend out of the blue like that?" he said with a warble in his voice, as he wasn't quite calmed down yet. I felt a sinking feeling in my chest as I realized in full that I was the cause for his distress.

"I asked because I want you to pretend that you're my boyfriend and pick me up from work in order to get some of the people there off my back. Sorry that I didn't explain enough," I said.

"It's alright," he said as his tired voice lost it's warble. "Just.. next time you have some kind of plan like this… tell me early on in the day so it doesn't disrupt my sleep. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get started on that R&R," he said as he wandered over to the couch, face planted and was instantly out like a light. I smiled at how weird he could be and proceeded to write the note, set the alarm for two pm since I knew it took a good two hour to begin to wake him up. I then ate my breakfast and headed out the door.

 **Starrk POV**

I wasn't happy at the way Halibel handled telling me about her plan, but I was just too damn tired to express my displeasure. When I crashed on that sofa, the universe became balanced and everything was right with the world once again. I could almost feel a smile grace my face as I submerged myself into a world of dreams.

As I started dreaming, I found myself in a frozen over valley surrounded by mountains that raked the clouds. The clouds were dark, looking as if they would start unleashing a storm at any second. At present though it was a soft, light, powdery snow that quietly brushed against my cheeks. As I looked around I saw a street running across the expanse of the valley. As far as the eye could see, it was straight as an arrow and untouched by snow or ice.

"Wow, Starrk, glad to see you haven't changed a bit," a voice called out. My eyes widened.

"That can't be…" I thought. I turned around and before my very eyes, was the other half of my soul.

"You're dead," I choked out. "I saw it. That Captain killed you."

"THAT'S the first thing you say to me after all this time! Not 'Oh I'm so happy to see you' or 'I was so lost without your wonderful guidance', but a 'You should be dead'?! You really know the way to woman's heart, Starrk," Lilynette shouted at me, giving my ears a familiar ring I hadn't had in weeks and then hitting my head.

"Looks like you still know how to ruin a good moment, even if you are a dream," I shot back. She crossed her arms and pouted.

"You know, just for that, I'm not gonna tell you my secret."

"Why? What secret could you possibly have?"

"Because you think I'm a dream. That's why I won't tell you my secret."

"Lilynette, if there is one thing I know about you, it's that you can't keep a secret. Even if you are just a dream you'll tell me."

"Why is it that you still think I'm a dream? If you bother to take a look around, this landscape is way more detailed than it would be in a dream, don't you think?"

She was right. It was like I was awake, but I couldn't have been. Everything was in vivid detail and I could feel the snow piling on my shoes and the cold wind that would whisk past my face. It felt so real yet it still felt like a dream because I still felt the peaceful calm that I associated with my dreams.

"If this isn't a dream then just what is this?" I asked.

"Oh now you think it isn't a dream. Too bad because I'm still not going to tell you," she said and then stuck her tongue out at me.

"You will," I said. "Especially given that this probably won't be the last time I see you."

This… place was starting to become blurry and out of focus. I was getting tired and it felt like I was slipping off into a dream.

"I'll just send you away each time," she said as her image dissolved and everything went dark. I was back in my home, into my never-ending chasm of dreams. No worries at all….

 **Halibel POV**

It was getting closer to the end of my shift I wanted nothing more than to scream and run out of the shop. Today was not going my way. The guitar I was working on was being stubborn and refused to function despite stripping it down to nothing and rebuilding it with my own two hands. Meanwhile I had felt every single one of my coworkers constantly staring at me and eyeing me up. It took all my restraint not to shove Tiburon down their throats. Right at the stroke of 3 o'clock, Starrk walked in. He was in his usual attire and looked considerably better, but he still had dark circles under his eyes. I packed up the infernal instrument I was working on, picked it up, and walked over to him and gave him a brief peck on the cheek and then interlaced his hand with my own, trying to be casual and not seem awkward. I could hear everything in the shop stop as everyone's jaws dropped.

"Ready to go, Halibel?" he asked smoothly. I was surprised he was keeping his head on and not flustered. I nodded and followed him outside. We discussed what to have for dinner and slowly returned to our comfort zones as we untangled our hands and walked not as close.

"I'm surprised you didn't get all shaken up. I never took you for being a good actor," I said as I returned to my usual reserved demeanor.

"I had a few things on my mind."

"Like what? I'm sorry if you're still mad over the whole sleep-thing."

"No, I'm not as upset about that. I got a good amount of sleep. By the way, thanks for leaving the note for my clients. You really saved my skin with that."

"You're welcome. If it's not the sleep thing, than what is it that's on your mind?"

"I saw Lilynette."

I stopped and shakily said, "She's dead, Starrk. You know that right?"

"I know that, Halibel. I'm not going insane. It was in a dream or something. It's hard to explain. It should have been a dream, but it wasn't. It was like I was wide awake with all my senses at my command."

"Get real Starrk, it had to be a dream. What else could it possibly have been?" I said getting annoyed. I didn't want one of the few tolerable and sane people around me going off the deep end chasing ghosts.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, I'm going to have to tell Urahara about it next time we see him," he said.

"Either that or a psychiatrist," I thought.

* * *

 **Well... stuff happened. Sorry for being late... again... for the umpteenth time. I had a good holiday season aside from panicking from teachers still not posting my grades yet, so that's been fun worrying about. I hope everyone else had a fantastic holiday season as well. I wish you all have a fantastic new year and hope that you all find success and happiness in it.**


	14. Chapter 14: The Beginnings of Progress

**I own nothing of Bleach or it's characters. All characters belong to their respective owners and I make no profit off this whatsoever.**

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 **Starrk POV**

After a quiet meal, Halibel and I went off to Urahara's to train. He greeted us with the same dreadful smirk that we learned meant bad things for us. He quickly ushered us into the underground training room. Once we had gotten out our bodies and headed down he immediately addressed us.

"Alright, Halibel, I'm going to have you train against Starrk. The goal is to get you two on par with each other. You two may start whenever you please. I ask that you stay unreleased, both for preservation of the training ground and so that Starrk isn't overwhelmed. I'll intervene when I think you've had enough or if you're beating Starrk too badly, since I'll still need to train him to try and get his resurrección back. Alright?"

"Fine," she said as she drew her sword. I instinctively grabbed the hilt of my blade and Urahara slowly walked back, a widening smirk present on his face.

 **Urahara POV**

The two of them quickly went at each other in a flurry of slashes. Starrk had the upperhand, blocking and parrying every single attack and immediately going for a strikes afterwards. Halibel was already receiving small cuts and one or two slightly larger wounds. I heard Halibel shout, "Ola Azul!" and then saw her release a blinding yellow attack in the middle of their skirmish sending up a cloud of dust. Halibel frantically sonidoed the area, and immediately assumed a stance more suitable for defense. The attack she was waiting for never came though.

The dust cloud continued to clear and after a few minutes it had dissipated revealing Starrk calmly dusting himself off, completely unfazed. He had not a scratch on him. Halibel stood in shock for a moment before launching herself back at him. He started dodging her strikes as she started dancing around him in her almost desperate attempt to hit him. She would miss after lunging herself at him, then changing direction in mid air, and lunge back at him. She was tenacious to say the least. Starrk meanwhile was analyzing every movement, every twitch in her muscles and predicting what she was going to do.

" _Seeing her base capabilities, eh Starrk? You may play the fool, but really there seems to be few the wiser when you fight_. _The question is… when are you going to start pushing her?"_ I thought as I felt my grin grow even more. Then just as I was about to zone out, a loud clang rang throughout the air leaving a startling silence. I focused again and saw that Starrk had finally decided to block one of her attacks. Halibel was frozen in midair, her sword trusted as far out as her arm could stretch. The tip of her blade was being blocked by Starrk's. He was using both hands and was struggling a bit. Halibel then lept back before he could land a counter and then sonidoed behind him. Just as he was about to turn around to counter, her blade had struck him in his tricep. She then sonidoed back in front of him and started to release a barrage of the attack she had dubbed "Ola Azul" and bala. Starrk then proceeded to sonido all over the training ground, leading her in a wild goose change.

After several minutes of this, Halibel stood in the sky above the field, panting relentlessly. Starrk then took that opportunity and flew up to her at a blinding speed and hit her in the back of her knee with the back of his blade, causing he to come crashing down from the sky. She hit the ground with a painful crash and slowly got up. Starrk, in turn, had used his sonido to come back down and was now standing several meters away from her. During her barrage he had taken some hits and was starting to show some mild exhaustion. They both took a second to catch their breath and then restarted their deadly dance.

They were moving a bit slower, though still at speeds too fast for the average human to see. They seemed to be on a bit more even ground, and were fighting with more effort, their reiatsu in a furious war, as I would see bright flashes of blue and gold when their blades collided. It was an enchanting sight from afar. But if you could keep up, it was far more grisly. Both were putting up a marvelous show, but Starrk was done scoping out Halibel's abilities. In their skirmish he was hardly holding back, as he would mercilessly strike her whenever possible. She would strike. He would block and then quickly sonido behind her and strike her with the back of his blade. He would strike her at her joints though, Forcing her arms up, or her shoulders down, adjusting the angle at which her knees were bent. " _Sneakily adjusting her stance, eh?"_ I thought smugly. What was really surprising me, was that Halibel was catching on and adjusting her stance.

Slowly, but surely, she was adjusting her stance and technique. While it wasn't perfect, She was receiving less strikes from Starrk. If they kept up this kind of training, Halibel could be at his level in possibly a month. Starrk abruptly ended their bout and sonidoed several meters away with his sword sheathed. Halibel stopped mid strike and lowered her sword, and waited while Starrk walked towards her.

 **Halibel POV**

I was breathing heavily after the fight and was a bit sore all over. I was a bit happy that we hadn't decided to use the sharpened edge of the blade or else I would've been in far worse shape. Sometimes, due to his laid back nature, people would forget how strong Starrk was. I too had forgotten. Not of his strength in his resurrección, that was something no one would forget. Rather how dangerous he could be when he wasn't using it. It could be pretty terrifying to see what he could do when he applied himself. When Starrk finally made his way over, he was slightly panting, and looking a bit worn down with several cuts in his clothing and dust and debris clinging to his face and hair.

"What now?" I asked, unsure of why he stopped.

"I know you noticed how I was adjusting your stance during the fight, which, by the way, was quite impressive. At any rate I'd like you to start practicing the stances. They should help eliminate some of the holes in your defenses. Once your technique improves then we'll start worrying on boosting your reiatsu up to my level. Sound good to you?" he asked. I nodded and assumed the first position. He quickly came over to me and adjusted me to his variant of the position. He started to walk off to go train with Urahara when I moved into the second stance. This prompted him to come back and adjust me once again. He then decided to stay as I moved through each stance and would either slightly move or bend certain limbs and joints, or just tell me what needed to be adjusted.

I would occasionally look at his eyes to see if he was ogling me. The last thing I wanted was even Starrk to start staring at me as if I were a hunk of meat. I was cautions due to all my coworkers and my previous encounters with sexual harassment in Hueco Mundo. The last thing I wanted was for Starrk to start doing that as well. But when I looked at his eyes, they were sharp and focused on the task at hand. He wasn't just fixing my stances, but also trying to stay in a razor-sharp battle mindset so that he would be ready for round two with Urahara. Complete focus on what he needed to do. There was no apprehension in his eyes. Just a kind of focus only a person of his caliber could achieve. Once he felt he was done fixing my stances and felt that I could practice on my own, he sonidoed away to have his second crack at Urahara. I smirked. He seemed to be developing a sort of rivalry with the man.

"Kick his ass, Starrk," I whispered, grinning as I prepared to start going through the poses again.

 **Starrk POV**

I sonidoed back over to Urahara only to find him doing some sort of meditation with his sword pulled out and lain across his lap with one hand resting on top of the hilt and the other on top of the edge of the blade. I was surprised to see that he didn't have his usual smug grin during his meditation. I stood waiting for a couple of minutes, but when he still didn't get up I sat down, waiting for him to address me. It was another ten minutes before he finally stood up.

"Did I keep you waiting long Starrk?" he asked as he started stretching.

"Only fifteen minutes," I growled.

"Sorry 'bout that. As much as enjoyed watching your fight, I felt I needed to get ready for mine," he said.

"So any particular rules you're going to have with our fights?" I asked.

"None in particular. I've been pouring over your test results and I'm still try to understand what I was seeing because while Arrancar have many similarities to Shinigami, they also have many differences. I think it will be clearer if we just fight as best we can. I'll be pushing you as hard as I can out there until you show me that power you lost, even if it means using techniques that could possibly kill you. I'll ask you this once: are you ready?" he said as all aloofness and smugness left, leaving only a keen killing edge.

"Let's go."

"Awaken, Benihime," he said the second I let go of the last syllable. He really wasn't going to be holding anything back. He lashed out at me in the blink of an eye. I quickly guarded and was forced on the defensive. He was vicious and swift. I only saw a mere glimpse of this strength when we sparred the last time. I blocked and parried, but he just counter or dodge. Just as I was about to let my guard down to attack, a shrill scream cut through the air as a red blast of reiatsu came at me in the blink of an eye. On instinct, I shot a bala at it, just barely managing to deflect it. I didn't stop with just the one because I knew that Urahara would be quick to follow up on his assault. Just as my balas were about to hit, he used shunpo to dodge. I did a 180° turn to find Urahara just about to slash me. I quickly brought up my sword and parried his strike. I then lept back, while charging a cero and launched it at him.

It hit and released a large cloud of dust. As it cleared I could see Urahara standing perfectly fine. He must've used some trick his zanpakuto had in order to block it. He then started to launch a volley of red energy blast at me from his sword. I used my sonido and slowly dodged my way past each one as I made my way towards him. With one final push I sonidoed behind him and got a solid hit on him across his back. He staggered and turned to face me with a look of shock on his face. He slowly shook his head as a grin once again found its way onto his face. As he was about to open his mouth to say something, I charged and launched a cero at him. As Urahara stepped out of the resulting cloud, I saw that his clothes were singed and he had a few burns. This proved my theory that he did use an ability of his zanpakuto's in order to block my previou cero. Urahara then sat down on the ground and invited me over to do the same. Warily, I walked over.

"I think that was a good session to start out with," he said as I sat down, "I think tomorrow I'll Yoruichi fight with in order to give me some time to heal. Besides I can't have you getting used to fighting one kind of opponent. That'll be all for tonight, you and Halibel can go home now if you wish," he said as he got up, slightly wincing as he straightened his back. I was about to get up and walk back over to Halibel when I remembered what I needed to discuss with Urahara.

"Hey, Urahara," I called out. He stopped walking away and turned around.

"What is it, Starrk?"

"Something weird happened to me earlier today and I wanted to see what you thought about it."

"What happened?"

"Well I had this dream… at least I think it was a dream-"

"You think?... Sorry go on," he said.

"I question that it was a dream because it was as if I was awake. I had all five senses in it, which isn't something that normally happens when I sleep. At any rate I saw a girl in it, a girl who used to be apart of my soul, and I'm not talking figuratively. She and I were once the same being. She had died in the winter war and she used to be the key to unlocking my resurrección. I saw her in there and she was quite cryptic. However, she said that she had secrets and that what I was experiencing might not have been a dream. What do you think?" I asked. At first Urahara was in deep thought as he processed the information and then I saw his eyes widen ever so slightly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well it could be nothing but an unusually vivid dream or, and don't get your hopes up on this, I might have figured out how to give you back your powers," he said.

* * *

 **What is that I spy? Could it be... a new chapter?! And plot development?! What maddness is this? Sorry for not posting sooner, but I had some issues to sort out... like David Bowie's death. Y'all may not have known this, but I'm a massive David Bowie fan and I was extatic when his new album got released. Then on Monday morning, as I woke up and turned on the news, the first thing I saw was that David Bowie had died. That Monday was one of the worst days of my life. David Bowie had been one of my few idols. I never really had them, but he was almost a god to me. So after spending a few days in mourning I finally started writing again. I loved David Bowie and had always aspired to try and be myself more because of his example. He was a Renaissance man and we are unlikely to find a person as unique, trend-setting, and game-changing as he was. Rest in peace, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, The Man Who Sold The World, Aladdin Sane, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Pierrot, The Goblin King; Jareth, The Regular Dude, The Outsider, The Elder Statesman, Meta-Bowie, and David Jones. Your work is done. Thank you _so much!_ And thank you readers for all the support you've given to this little story of mine. If you want to, I highly encourage you to listen to Bowie's music if you haven't yet. Thank you and may you all have a ****wonderful week and good luck to any students who still have yet to take their finals!**


	15. Chapter 15: An Odd Request

**The Prodigal Son returns. More on why I never updated at the end of the chapter. Also some of you may have gotten the notice of the new chapter earlier today. I took it down because I forgot some necessary details. I fixed it a bit. It's up. Sorry for the confusion.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing of Bleach**

* * *

That night I went home on top of the world. I may finally be making headway in getting my powers back. Urahara had said it would take a week or two to analyze the data and come to a conclusion. Meanwhile, we were to keep coming over for sparring sessions. It had been two days since then. My body was getting a bit sore from how hard Urahara was starting to push me. Over the previous two days, he had nearly killed me quite a few times. He had turned up the intensity after the first day. I was not used to having to stay so mentally sharp and aware. I had only ever done so against that Captain I had fought. Besides increasing the intensity, he had also increased the lengths of the bouts. I was starting to randomly snap awake, tense all over. It was starting to bite into my napping habits.

I was currently in the little practice room at work that I come to affectionately call "My Office". The room was small, about three and a half meters deep and two meters wide. In the wall opposite of the door, there was a single window facing westward so that there was always some sunlight in the evening. It had an old, peeling, burgundy paint job. It had a tough, worn-down, office carpet in it with a mysterious stain covering the majority of the floor. From what I heard from the owner of the building, one of the former teachers had caused it. The owner had strongly advised me not to touch it though, so for the time being I had a carpet protector over it. I seriously needed to get some cleaning equipment in here.

I had a small desk in one of the corners of the room next to the window on which I would have my laptop on. Next to the desk was an old, beat up military foot locker. Inside were a few music theory books I had picked up and various song books for string instruments. On top of the locker I had a large stereo system that was hooked up to my laptop. Across from the locker and desk were two 30-watt Vox amps that I used with my guitar students.

It was getting to be around five o'clock and the sun was just starting to set. I had spent the majority of the day napping in the office chair I had in the room. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it got the job done. Thursdays were always my slow days on which I didn't have many appointments so I had decided to go to Halibel's workshop and pick her up since she usually got off at around six and the way there was about thirty minutes.

I picked myself off of my chair, made sure everything was shut off, locked up and left. The walk to the shop was slow, as it was rush hour. In the time when I would be left standing at stoplights, I would take a moment and admire the town. The setting sun cast all buildings in it's light in a beautiful array of burning reds, bright oranges, and shimmering rays of gold. Those in it's shadows walked through muted purples and vibrant pinks depending of how dark the spot one resided in was. A soothing breeze would float through the air and sometimes, for a brief moment, it would feel as though the world had stopped to bask in the scene it had molded. Then that bubble would burst and I would walk across the street as noise would once again consume my ears and thoughts would do likewise to my mind.

I thought about Urahara and how his research was going. I wondered if I would ever regain my full power. I worried about being discovered by the Soul society. I wondered if Halibel was happy with this new life of ours. So many things that could go so very wrong. It was hard to keep track of all the problems. I worried about these things every day. I wanted to be able to live in peace. This pursuit of peace, it felt so far, far away, yet closer with everyday as I trained with Urahara and Halibel.

Halibel was another enigma I had yet to figure out. I didn't understand why she wanted to stay here in the World of the Living. I figured that she would've gone back to Hueco Mundo and become the queen. It would have been good training as there are many Hollows there that rival the power of the Espada and some that could have even given Aizen a run for his money if they had chosen to challenge him. Yet, she chose to be here. I knew why I wanted to be here. I was a lazy, slacker. I just wanted a rest after the war. I had no intention of becoming the king of Hueco Mundo. That was a task that seemed like far too much trouble. I just couldn't seem to get a good read on her.

I shook myself from my thoughts as I arrived at the shop Halibel was working at. It was a small unassuming building that could be easily missed as it was wedged between two of the town's taller buildings. It had an old, chipped yellow paint job on the outside with the business name written in large, obnoxious characters over the entrance. I stood outside for a second or two before entering as I mentally prepared myself for the onslaught of glares I was sure to receive upon entry. I then entered, but immediately noticed that I was not the one who was being observed instead it was a mountain of a man at the lone register. Halibel was working as the cashier at the moment and trying hard not to stare.

He stood over two meters tall, with long, shaggy, dark hair cascading past his shoulders and had a healthy tan. His face was well defined and a little unshaven. He was positively ripped. His biceps and triceps were nearly larger than his head. He was wearing a simple black athletic t-shirt that looked as though it would tear apart if the man decided to flex any muscle of his body. The bass that Halibel was looking over, presumably his, was preposterously large. The neck was easily as thick as a dinner plate. I couldn't even count how many strings were on it. Halibel then asked him a few questions and wrote his responses down on a nearby notepad. The man hefted up the case for the instrument on to the counter, put the guitar inside, and with a nod walked away. As he walked toward me to get to the door, his true enormity finally struck me. His shirt was more than just tight, it looked almost as though it was spray painted on him, with how much it strained against his muscular frame. He was at least a head and a half taller than me. Definitely not a man I'd want to anger while in a gigai. He swiftly walked past me and left, leaving me standing stunned and stupefied.

"Helloo? Earth to Starrk?" came the familiar voice of Halibel. I shook my head and my eyes focused.

"Sorry. That customer you were talking to just kinda… shocked me is all. Need any help packing up before we head home?"

"If you could carry the guitar, I'll carry my toolbox."

"Alright," I said as I took hold of one of the straps and slung it across my back. All eyes were on us as we left the shop. Things we're back to normal now that the titanic man had left.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that,"I sighed.

"Get used to what?" she asked.

"The amount of murderous intent that comes off every single person in there when I come to see you."

"Can't really help you there." The conversation stopped for a while. While we were able to talk to each other a bit easier these days, we both still didn't know just what the other liked and would still run into the patches of silence in which neither of us knew where to take the conversation. We eventually just accepted the silence and preserved it not only for the remainder of the walk home, but the entirety of dinner. It wasn't until we were walking toward Urahara's later in the evening that it was broken by Halibel.

"Do you really think Urahara will be able to help you get your resurreccion back?"

"You mean do I trust him enough to not stab us in the back?" I replied. She nodded, her hair swaying in the wind and reflecting the little light offered by the moon.

"The way I see it, we are of far more use to him alive. He does have an interest in what makes us tick and just how powerful we can get. He may think that he'll need our help at some point. I can't say. He doesn't come across as someone with malicious intentions. At the very least, we are going to get stronger through whatever he has in store. Whether we survive or not, I guess that will be up to us."

She nodded and the silence returned. When we finally got into the densest part of the town, she decided to pick up the conversation again and asked, "How's work going for you?"

"Pretty well, I guess. Students are doing pretty good on the songs I've assigned them. How 'bout you? What was wrong with the giant guitar you took home?"

"The guy wants to upgrade the nut to be made out of ivory, change the pickups, and adjust the neck."

"Sounds like a pretty daunting task given it's size." She nodded in reply. She then went on to explain the entire process to me, her voice taking on a happier tone I only heard when she talked about the instruments she worked on. Part of me wanted to hear it more outside of the topic of her work.

* * *

Once we had arrived at Urahara's, we went into the underground training facility. Halibel and I went to sparring first, as per usual. Things took an interesting turn just as I was wrapping up and heading over to Urahara to begin our match. He shunpoed over to us, standing in between Halibel and I.

"Now, Starrk before you go waltzing off to fight me, I want to propose an additional challenge. Halibel, I want you to release your resurrección and fight Starrk with me. It'll mix things up," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye at the thought of how much I would hate having to put out more effort..

"Do you really think I can handle this, Urahara?" I asked nervously, praying to whatever gods there are that they would pity me and not force this great punishment of work upon me.

"I actually believe we haven't been challenging you enough, Starrk, and that's why I'm actually going to make you start having to put in some serious effort if you want to win," he said as he now had a gigantic shit-eating grin on his face as I was now blatantly scowling at him. Clearly my prayers fell on deaf ears.

"Bastard…"

He then turned toward Halibel and said, "Halibel, if you would power up then we can get started".

She nodded and then pulled out her sword before releasing a large stream of yellow reiatsu. It grew thicker and denser making my skin tingle as if sparks were arching across it. The stream stopped as she shouted, "Tiburon!". She was then promptly encased in a torrent of water. The water flowed chaotically as it seemed to flow in every direction at once. It eventually parted and dispersed throughout the arena as Halibel was revealed in her resurrección. Urahara quickly followed suit and released his zanpakuto. He then wasted no time by going on the offensive and releasing a barrage of crimson reiatsu blasts from his sword. I sonidoed several feet away from the attack only to find myself about to be struck by Halibel's broadsword. He really wasn't kidding when he said I'd have to start applying myself. I quickly drew my zanpakuto and parried the attack. Halibel recovered and responded by rapidly firing several streams of water at me. I didn't want to take any chances with the water attacks and sonidoed behind Halibel. Once again I was attacked by Urahara who got a solid slash along my back. While I was stunned, Halibel did a downward cut, slamming me into the ground creating a small crater. As I picked myself up, I noticed that Halibel and Urahara were not in sight. I felt a heavy pressure bearing down on me and looked up to see the two of them charging their attacks. With a shout Halibel and Urahara sent out their Cascada and crimson energy blasts. I activated my sonido and watched as time slowed down. I stood still as the tons of water and reiatsu blasts slowly inched towards me. I stood wondering what my next course of action should be.

" _I could dodge, but then the question is where do I dodge. I could use a cero to mitigate the damage. Or I could even just dodge through the attack and get a good attack on the booth of them_ ," I thought.

I exited sonido and charged a cero out in front of my chest. Just as the water and reiatsu was about to overtake me, I released it. The blast evaporated the Cascada and caused an explosion when it met Urahara's attack. I sonidoed around the smoke so as to not cause any revealing movement from the movement of the smoke. I then quickly slashed both Halibel and Urahara across their torso. It took them both a second to regain their composure after the attack. As soon as she was ready again, Halibel sonidoed behind me and released one of her ceros from her blade followed up by a barrage of her La Gota. I casually dodged them while keeping a keen eye on Urahara and his reiatsu signature. He shunpoed, leaving behind an after image in his place and joined the assault on me by going after me with rapid slashes and thrusts. I was impressed he was able to keep the pressure on me while I was using sonido to traverse vast stretches of the battlefield in order to avoid Halibel's brutal water attacks. Eventually Urahara stopped his attack and shunpoed over to Halibel to tell her to stop as well. I sonidoed over to them.

"What's wrong, Urahara? I don't mind a break, but when you said that you were going to push me, we're hardly getting anywhere near my limit," I said. I didn't say it to be smug. It was true. My reserve of reiatsu was the largest among the Espada, surpassing Halibel's and Barragan's by large margins without any extensive formal training.

"If we progressed any further then we might have had to wake Orihime up to heal our wounds. While she wouldn't complain, I'd hate to take advantage of her kind nature," he replied. That's when I noticed I was relatively unscathed, even though I had taken a few heavy blows from the both of them, I only had a few scratches and bruises. They on the other hand had large cuts spanning their torso and backs from the few offensives I had launched.

"What about the wounds we have now?" asked Halibel.

"While they may have a large surface area, we all seemed to come to an unspoken agreement of keeping them shallow. It should be alright to just let them heal naturally, especially since you two have the ability to regenerate."

"Then we can leave for the evening?" I asked.

"Yes, Starrk, you may go."

"See you tomorrow then, Urahara."

* * *

It was around midnight when we both got home. Halibel went straight to go to work on the gigantic guitar she had received earlier, nearly forgetting to take off her shoes and coat in the process. After taking off my own coat and shoes, I proceeded to trudge upstairs to engage in one of life's greatest gifts, when Halibel said something I didn't quite catch.

"What was that, Halibel? I couldn't hear," I said.

"I asked if you'd be willing to play something for me on the piano before you go comatose."

"What kind of piece did you have in mind?" I asked as I walked back down the stairs. I noticed a shocked look on her face as she probably hadn't expected me to honor her request. In truth, I was also surprised by my actions. She never requested me to play anything for her. Maybe that's why I did it.

"How about something on the piano. Preferably something quiet to wrap up the evening with."

"Alright," I said as I walked over to the opposing corner of the room where the piano was in. I took a moment to think as I flipped through the pages of the book of songs I had for piano. I eventually decided on one of Franz Schubert's piano sonatas. I tried to play it slowly and with reverence and it slowly filled the room with it's soft presence. The only sounds other than the piano were the soft sounds of Halibel's tools on the guitar. I noticed that as time passed, Halibel relaxed and her posture became less tense. While she usually relaxed a bit whenever she worked on an instrument, there was always still a minor air of frustration that came with the fact that it was work that she was doing. Now, it was like she didn't mind the problems the instrument would throw at her and just accepted them, figured them out and flowed onto the next challenge. It was nice to see her so relaxed. I hadn't seen her this at peace in a good while.

I continued the sonata, lightly pressing the keys and started speeding up and and let the piece sweep myself into it. I kept my focus on the piece, my eyes never wavering from it. It transitioned from mood to mood, yet the notes were always essentially the same. From short and fast to long and grandiose, it seemed to transition quite well and didn't break Halibel's or my own immersion in the piece. As I neared the end of the piece, I was barely pressing down on the keys, yet each note's presence still seemed to fill the room. When the last note faded I sat in silence, the events of the day finally catching up with me. And then I felt it. I got a feeling in my stomach, like I was going to be violently ill. Following this I received a burning sensation all over my body, Like I was being stabbed thousands of times over. I struggled to keep a straight face despite the immense pain I was in. All of my senses seemed to burn. My vision was blurred. Even the silence in the room seemed far too loud. It felt as if my eardrums would burst. My nose felt like I had just inhaled several pounds of cajun seasoning. My throat felt like boiling coffee was being forced down it. I felt like my body had become hell. It was like every nerve was being scratched with rusty nails. After five minutes, it passed. This happened every time I played any instrument. My lessons during the day could be hell if I had to do a lot of demonstrations for my students. It had started out slowly, with my mentality changing when I played, causing me to play in minor keys, and shaping songs to be darker. As I had played and practiced more, it changed. It became more of a physical pain, and only got more intense the longer I played. I was brought back to reality at the continued sound of Halibel tinkering with the guitar. I sighed shakily, languidly got up and slowly made my way to my room. I didn't notice Halibel staring at me out of the corner of her eye all the while.

* * *

 **I have returned from the dead after what... four... five... ish months. Some thought I'd never return. Some said I was dead, and other's said I went to destroy the One Ring. The truth is far more different. Awhile back I had wrote this musical arrangement. I put out a notice to try and get people to play it with me at a** **local; music festival thingy that's coming up. I ended up getting a lot of support and that's what I've been putting my time into. I would have had this chapter up sooner, but I was at the Joe Bonamassa concert last night on the twelfth of may. Y'all should check him out. He's a superb blues musician. He does a lot of blues rock fusion stuff, but he also can do some really good old school blues as well. At any rate, I'm sorry for not finding the time to write, but hopefully you guys will forgive me, right? I still am working with the music group so it will likely be awhile before the next chapter. Please leave some reviews if you have any suggestions or pm me if you have some suggestions for the plot since I'm pretty open to ideas that I could possibly insert. Thank you for the support and I hope y'all have a wonderful day**


	16. Chapter 16: Symptom of a Stumbling

**I do not own Bleach the manga or Bleach the cleaning product. Hmm... That reminds me, I need to put some on my shopping list. At any rate, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Starrk P.O.V.**

Once again we were down in the basement of Urahara's shop. It was 12:23am on what would be the third day since I told Urahara about my dream. Urahara had called Halibel and I in the middle of the night, and by doing so he was either insane or he had found something important enough to warrant risking my wrath. Urahara stood before us looking haggard, sleep-deprived, and undeniably insane as his hair was an absolute mess, well more so than it usually tended to be, and he had many bags under his eyes. Yet, despite looking as if he had downed far to many a Redbull over the past twenty-four hours, or maybe because of that, he was grinning ear to ear.

"Why did you call us down here, Urahara?" Halibel asked. At this the man's grin only got impossibly wider.

"I figured out how Starrk can get, not only his first release back, but also obtain his segunda etapa," he replied, letting out a small chuckle when he noticed and signs of drowsiness vanish from my face.

"And just how would that work?" she asked.

"During your initial examinations I noticed how both of your reiatsu was much closer to that of shinigami than any other Arrancar that came to Karakura town previously. Upon examination of your zanpakuto I found that they were structured and functioned nearly exactly like a shinigami's. Not only were they built for a first release, but they both held potential for a second, far more powerful, release. That showed that you only had the potential for Segunda Etapa, but it didn't give any clues as to how you would go about accessing it. For a while I was at a dead end, with no further evidence I could dig up, all I could do was speculate. That is, until Starrk told me about his dream. It was a long-shot theory at first, but then as I thought I started being able to draw more parallels between Arrancar and Shinigami. If your resurrección was your version of a Shinigami's shikai, that would make the Segunda Etapa a bankai for you. Theoretically, if one of you were to initiate a shinigami technique of Jinzen, you could eventually unlock Segunda Etapa. For Starrk, his path is much different. He lost the use of his first release, so upon entering Jinzen he would have to work on developing a strong relationship with his zanpakuto. Once that relationship is strong enough, he will be able to obtain Segunda Etapa."

"Just what is this 'Jinzen', Urahara?" I asked.

"It's a deep meditation to reach what can only be described as the world within your soul, commonly called an 'inner world'. In there you can freely commune with your sword and achieve greater harmony with it and potentially experience exponential growth. Shinigami use it to deepen their relationship with their zanpakuto and eventually achieve bankai. There's no harm in trying it, unless for some reason Arrancar zanpakuto's have more aggressive spirits. However, even if that hypothesis were correct, zanpakuto are smart enough to know they shouldn't be killing their Shinigami, or in this case, Arrancar. Since you're already down here, and in an especially chipper mood this morning why don't you try it out. Just sit down, pull your zanpakuto out from it's scabbard and lay it across your lap. Then meditate."

Begrudgingly, we did so. Halibel and I walked about fifty meters away from each other, and I went behind some large rocks for some privacy so that I could sleep just incase Urahara was wrong and this was a complete waste of my time. With a sigh and a mutter about how much of a pain in the ass Urahara was, I sat down, took my sword out, and rested it on my lap, with my hands lightly touching the hilt and the tip of the blade. I then languidly, closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. I tried to slowly let my muscles unwind and clear my mind. It wasn't easy to let go of my anticipation and anxiety. For as laid back and lazy as I can be, I do still have my worries and doubts. After taking a moment and rationalizing them, I was able to push them out of my mind, leaving no thoughts in the front of my head. That wasn't to say that I still couldn't feel the buzzing of subconscious thought in my head, or my brain's desperate need to think of something, but it was a good step in the right direction.

I then concentrated on my breathing, and the feeling of the weight of my sword on my hands. I worked on trying to get a complete silence in my mind. No stray thoughts, nothing going on in my subconscious, just pure silence is what I tried to achieve. Eventually all that was left were my senses. They felt muted and yet amplified at the same time. As if I was about to go into a deep sleep, but I was too aware of my surroundings. My zanpakuto felt as if it had gained massive amounts of weight. There seemed to be far too much dust in the air, as if somebody had been here training before us. The thing I was far too aware of for my own comfort, was my heartbeat. It thundered in my ears. Pounding and pounding, refusing to give me peace from it in any way. It was aggravating in a completely asinine way. It sounds stupid, but I was mad at my own heartbeat, the testament that I was alive. But it just _refused_ to be silent for even a moment. _BUH-BOOM!... BUH-BOOM!.. BUH-BOOM!_ No heartbeat should be able to sound that inexplicably loud and powerful. I couldn't help but pay attention to it. The more I tried to ignore it, the louder it seemed to get. It was only when a strong, fiercely cold gust of wind hit me did the incessant pounding cease.

If there was one thing I knew about Urahara's training ground it's that A). there was never any natural wind and B). It was always temperate, never too hot or cold. A logical assumption would then be either we were under attack by some enemy with ice-related abilities and I hadn't noticed, or, dear Dorothy, we weren't in Karakura anymore. When another teeth-chattering breeze flew through me I opened my eyes. I was back in the valley. It looked exactly like before, rolling grey clouds, and obsidian mountains blanketed in silencing snow, piercing the sky like fangs. I was sitting in the deadly quiet snow covered valley. Large, fluffy snowflakes mazily drifted towards the ground. It seemed completely untouched by any creature, just like the last time. With cold, creaking protest from my joints, I picked myself up, and sheathed my sword.

" _So… this wasteland is my 'inner world', eh? Why am I not surprised?"_ I thought. I looked around searching for anything that could possibly be the spirit of my zanpakuto. With nothing else to do I started to trudge forward when I felt a light tap on my shoulder, startling me. Realizing that the only thing it could be was my zanpakuto spirit, I regained my composure and turned around. I was met with a swift and abrupt drop kick to the face, promptly allowing me to make my acquaintance with the ground. With a grunt, I sat up and saw who my spirit was.

"And you say _I_ have bad social skills, Lilynette."

"I thought I told you not to come here, Starrk," she growled. She stood in a wide stance, visibly shaking with rage. Too me, she was a sight for sore eyes. She looked exactly as she had in the battle for Karakura town.

" _We went through so much together and then suddenly she just blows up the first time I see her since I thought she was dead. She'll always be a handful,_ " I thought.

"Come on, Lilynette. Did you really think I would let things end like they did last time? Not only are you hiding things from me, but you pushed me away. I thought we had an arrangement to not have the other be alone. I know I didn't take whatever state you're in right now in the best of ways, but come on! Who would?"

She growled again in frustration and yelled, "I hate it when you make good points, damn it! But, you left me alone, Starrk! I was here in this damn valley for weeks all by myself! _WEEKS_ , Starrk, _WEEKS_! For the first two weeks I thought I was going to die alone here! I had accepted the fact that I was going to die alone in a God forsaken wasteland, and then you just went and casually bumbled yourself here! I was beyond thrilled to see you, but then I thought, 'if you can come here, why didn't come sooner?'. YOU THOUGHT I WAS DEAD, STARRK! THAT MEANT THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO FIND ME, OR TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ME! To say the least I was pissed off, and I still am. Hell, I'm far more mad now. Do you understand now, Starrk?!"

I stood in stunned silence. After hearing her experiences, I felt terrible. Whenever I was left alone for long periods of time, I was rendered to a useless pile of limbs lying on the floor. Aizen had learned that lesson the hard way when I was serving him in the time before the war. He had sent Lilynette on a long-term surveillance mission with Aaroniero, back in a time when he was trying to get the Espada on better terms with each other so that we all wouldn't try to rip each other's throats out at a single snide comment. That, for obvious reasons, took longer with certain people than with others. Aizen, during that time, had me patrol Las Noches with Ulquiorra. I might as well had been with myself since we spent the entire time in complete silence. It had taken a while before I was back in a mentally healthy state when Lilynette got back.

Lilynette had always been better at handling isolation. For Lilynette to have this strong of a reaction to it was not something I had ever witnessed since she had always had some form of company whenever I was gone for extended periods of time, in part thanks to Tousen's fear of the havoc Lilynette could cause when left to her own devices. I didn't know how to help her, how to make things better. Lilynette had gotten angry at me countless times, but never for something as real as issue as this. I didn't know how to handle this. I felt ill suited to the task of trying to comfort her and help her. Shakily, I knelt down and pulled her into a tight embrace. At first she was shocked and completely motionless. She then immediately struggled and fought, shouting, bickering and berating me. Then she stopped.

"Starrk…?" she asked hollowly, as if having heard some kind of outrageous truth. My throat felt sore and all too dry. After a moment I managed a questioning grunt.

"Starrk…" she repeated. "You're… crying."

I was never a very sentimental person. I didn't care much for possessions and material things, but whenever it came to the people I knew, if I lost them, even if they were a bit of an ass like Barragan, I still felt a sense of loss for them. When Lilynette said I was crying, it was only then did I feel the smouldering, hot tears streaking down my face and steaming when they fell into the snow. It was only at that moment did I feel the straightjacket constricting my heart. I felt all the grief I had been hiding from myself since Lilynette's death. It twisted and stabbed inside me, like some horrible kind of venom. It felt like my entire world came crashing down upon me. My tears flowed faster and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I started sniveling and gasping for air. I couldn't stop. It was beyond me and completely out of my control. I tried remembering why I came here, that I had a goal to fulfill, but I then only seemed to break down more, becoming a crying, sniveling mess as I then started to completely lean on Lilynette.

Maybe I was just projecting and imagining, but to anyone that asks, I'll swear to my dying days that I felt Lilynette cry. It wasn't a sob, or a shiver. It wasn't her whimpering, or sniffing. Just a single warm, moist tear that fell on my hair. That was it. Lilynette's single act that told me I was forgiven, and that she understood. Then she gave me her own special form of mercy that only she was capable of doling out. A swift and sharp punch to the gut. It sent me flying and tumbling in the snow, tossing me flat on my back. As I looked up I saw her standing up, once again shaking, though not with the rage and fury that had previously been there. It was instead a shaking caused by momentary vulnerability that she was now trying to dissolve for my sake. She knew that if we both collapsed in despair and had ourselves a pity party, neither of us would ever move on, at least not for a very long time. I picked myself up, brushing the snow off of me and walked back over. By the time I was back, any tears she had were only glimmers in her eyes. We stood awkwardly for a moment, neither of us knowing where to take this conversation to.

"S-so...um..." Lilynette nervously stammered out, her brain still recovering.

"You have quite the razor sharp wit there, Lilynette," I lightly teased, keeping my expression soft so that she knew I wasn't meaning any kind of harm.

"Oh shut up, you."

"If I remember from the last time I was here," I said, changing the subject, "you mentioned you had a secret. I bet I know what it is."

Instantaneously she went back to her old, moody self. "Like you would ever know. Your brain's too sleep addled to tell apples from oranges."

"Oh really? You think I'm not smart enough to figure out what your big secret is?"

"That's what I just said, Starrk."

"If you're so sure I'll never figure out this secret of yours, then how about we make a little wager?"

"What kind of wager?"

"The rules are simple. I get to ask you one question, and you have to answer it truthfully. My only limit for the question is that I can't just ask you what your secret is. Then I'll tell you what I think your secret is"

"Then what makes it a wager?! There aren't any stakes! Don't you understand what the word 'wager' means?" she yelled indignantly.

"I was just getting to that. I win if my question allows me to confirm my suspicion on what your secret is, however if it doesn't confirm my answer or if my suspicion was wrong, you get three requests that I have to fulfill, no matter how ridiculous or impossible they are."

Her eyes lit up with malicious ambition. If there was one thing she couldn't resist, it was the chance to see me suffer by her hands and have me know it was my fault for presenting such an opportunity.

"It's a deal, but you know you're gonna lose, right?"

"We'll see. Give me a couple of moments. I need to think."

"Whatever. You're only delaying the inevitable."

Now despite what you may think, I was panicking. Sure, this entire game was rigged in my favor because I already knew her "secret", however, I couldn't just ask her any question and then answer without the two having some explainable connection.  
" _Despite having the temper and appearance of a child, she's extremely perceptive when she has to be. She'll know if I ask a bullshit question and then say her secret that it was rigged. If she knows, then there's no way she'll work with me. This is like some twisted math problem. I know both sides of the equation, all I need is x, which is, in this case, the question I have to ask. Damn, I was always horrible at math. It doesn't help that I'm a century or two out of practice,"_ I internally growled. I wracked my brain for anything I could get that could help. I was nervous and I could feel my calm façade slipping from my face.

" _Come on, come on, come on, Starrk!_ _ **Think**_ _dammit! I can't ante up and change the bet. She'd know something's up for sure then,"_ I continued. I noticed my vision start to swim a bit. I then noticed I was hyperventilating. I was losing control again. I'd lose if I passed out and couldn't ask her a good question. " _Focus! Just… breathe… relax… this kind of stuff should be natural to me, yet I can't stop my palms from sweating. I don't know if it's the thought of being at her mercy or the fear that she won't allow me to use her power. Either way, I need to chill out. Now, time to actually think. I'll try working backwards through this. Lilynette is the spirit that is the embodiment of my zanpakuto. She's the only person I've seen here in my inner world. If she wasn't my spirit then, by now they would have gone and shown themselves. Presuming they didn't take after my laziness. But then where do I go with this train of thought? ...Hmm…"_ I sat down and thought in silence for a while, letting my thoughts simmer. I would take whatever thought I had and try to see where I could go with it. Most just ended up derailing into a ravine. From the way Lilynette's eyebrow was starting to twitch, I was running out of time. I never liked the idea of playing dirty, but I suppose for something as important as this, I couldn't afford to lose this bet. I had my question. It didn't technically violate the rules I set out, though I had no doubt Lilynette wasn't going to be thrilled. Just as she opened her mouth to yell at me for my question, I stood up and brushed off the snow that had accumulated on me. God it snowed a lot here.

"Well?" she asked, her teeth grinding as she was still subduing her rage.

"Remember, no matter what I ask you have to tell the truth, alright?"

"JUST ASK YOUR DAMN QUESTION ALREADY! YOU'VE BEEN STALLING FOREVER!"

"Fine. Here it is. Short and sweet. Are you or are you not the spirit of my zanpakuto?"

Why? Why do people like to make my life hell? What did I ever do to the universe?! First I have Urahara. He leaves us stranded for a week in the wilderness. Even though I slept through the most of it, it didn't mean I was comfortable while I slept… Alright maybe that was a bad example given that A). It was way worse for Halibel and B). Even without that fact, it sounded extremely petty. Lilynette did have it worse given that she was alone in the wasteland that was my inner world for weeks on end. Regardless of whether I deserved it or not, Lilynette had replied to my question by performing a takedown and was in the process of trying to remove my shoulder from it's socket. Oh the joys of having responsibility for another human being. They grow up so fast.\

"YOU WANT YOUR ANSWER?! HUH?! **HUH?!** YOU CAN JUST GO AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS, STARRK!" she screamed as she continued to twist my arm dangerously close to the point where it would dislocate.

"THE HELL, LILYNETTE?!" I yelled, finally reaching the limits of my patience.

"YOU KNEW THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN TIME AND YOU MADE ME HAVE TO SIT THROUGH ALL THAT WAITING UNDER THE PREMISE OF THAT ABSOLUTELY STUPID WAGER?! YEAH, I'M YOUR ZANPAKUTO SPIRIT, MORON! I WAS ACTUALLY THINKING OF LENDING YOU MY POWER! BUT NOW IT'S UP IN THE AIR BECAUSE OF HOW IMPOSSIBLY STUPID YOU ARE! AND GUESS WHAT, DUMBASS?! THAT WASN'T MY SECRET!"

My life was over. The nail in the coffin. Followed by a legion of swords impaling the coffin and slicing my corpse into little jiblets. One might think that I could just go and ignore Lilynette's requests, but those who would say that obviously don't know her. She is tenacious and devious enough to make the most heinous resident of Hell quake in fear. She'd find a way to force me to do those requests. Only by the grace of whatever god there be would I survive these trials. I stopped struggling against her grip. I could feel her sadistic smile as she let up on her hold. With large amounts of shame I continued to just lay there, face first in the snow.

"C'mon, Starrk. It's not that bad. I'm not going to be using any of those requests quite yet. I'm going to wait for the perfect situation. Oh well, too bad for you. Do you have anything else you would like to beg from your queen, Starrk?" she asked smugly. I just shook my head, not even bothering to lift it from the snow.

"Then your audience has finished. Guess what? I'll even be kind enough to show you the way out!" she said cheerily. A second afterwards my senses started to spin, and it felt as though gravity had decided to do somersaults one way while my entrails decided to spin in the opposite direction. Eventually my vision faded granting my senses some semblance of mercy.

* * *

When I was able to start seeing again, and my gut had decided to end it's reenactment of the American Civil War, I noticed three things. The first thing I noticed was that I was very tired. Like, criminally tired. The kind of tired where you have about as much inhibition as a person who's had a few drinks, and your mind regresses to the state of a child, in both intelligence and innocence. The second thing I observed was a head of thick, blonde, silky hair obscuring my vision. My third observation, and probably the most important of all three, was that I was being given a piggyback ride. Groggily, I lifted my head off of the shoulder it had been resting on and was going to see who was giving me the lift when my brilliant mind decided, "Nah, whoever's givin' me a ride couldn't possibly want to hurt me, so why do I need to know who they are?".

"You're awake."

"Hey Halibel," I drowsily slurred when it finally clicked in my mind that she was the one giving me the ride.

"Hey yourself," she sourly said.

"What's wrong?"

"You were in that 'Jinzen' state a long amount of time. I was only in it for about an hour. You've been in it for around three. You had Urahara worrying something went wrong. Especially when your arm looked as if it was about ready to pop out of your shoulder."

"Yeah, my spirit isn't exactly happy with me."

"What do you mean?"

"Turns out Lilynette's my zanpakuto spirit, n' she's mad at me."

"What's so new about that, besides the whole 'spirit' thing? She's always angry with you."

"I might've made a wager I thought I could win, and lost it and became an indentured servant to her. So not one of my better moments."

"... You'll figure something out. You always manage to finish a task with the least effort," she said, keeping her tone even throughout the conversation. I merely grunted in response.

"How did your meeting go?" I asked.

"Better than yours… I didn't get much headway in getting Segunda Etapa, but at least I'm not in debt to my spirit," she said giving a light verbal jab at my plight. I grunted in response, tired and content to just feel the early morning breeze on my face.

After a pause I asked, "Do you want me to get off your back?"

"As you are now, you'd only slow the both of us down," she replied firmly, yet there was something in her tone that made it feel less strict and forceful.

"Say, what time is it?" I asked.

"It's three fifty-six"

"Sorry to keep you up so long, Halibel," I said, heavily slurring my words together in my tired state. In the following pause I felt a pang of guilt that I would be rendered so useless by the loss of so little sleep and that Halibel was still extremely capable, or at least mentally and physically competent enough to drag my sorry ass home. In truth though, she wasn't making it much easier for me to stay awake. The slow bouncing from her walking rocked me as if I was a child. Her slow, steady, even breaths came out with the consistency of a metronome. The crisp, refreshing, cool morning air flowed through Halibel's locks of golden hair in a way so that they'd barely brush against my cheeks with the softness of whispers in one's ear. Within the next few minutes I was fast asleep. I never stood a chance.

* * *

 **Halibel P.O.V.**

 ****I felt my body relax a little once Starrk's breathing lowered in frequency signalling that he had fallen asleep. Despite his drive to sleep as much as humanly possible, he never failed to be somewhat amusing. Becoming an indentured servant to an entity that is essentially part of oneself, that takes a special blend of crazy. It was nice to hear that he'd been reunited with Lilynette. They had a unique bond, not unlike my deceased fraccion. Despite having the tendency to get into the most random, asinine, and inane arguments, it would be impossible for them to live without each other's company.

God I missed those three. At every turn I expected to hear their incessant bickering. I'd give anything to hear it again. The silence that would encapsulate the house was suffocating. I'd put up with Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun's clashing personalities for so long, to have the peace and quiet that my life with Starrk had was completely alien to me. We were so different and we hardly knew anything about one another. Despite his easy-going and generally open personality, during his time at Las Noches, Starrk either kept to himself or with a very small circle of friends. I would notice his attempts to try and talk to the other Espada and get to know them. Usually they would fail though. The other Espada had pretty extreme personalities and were hard to adjust to, others disliked him because of his rank and refused to talk to him. Despite that, he was still intensely loyal to each of his comrades.

I remember when Starrk tried to talk to me for the first time back at Las Noches. It was an… awkward encounter to say the least. Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun tried to chase the him away, threatening him and getting up in his face. I had to order them to stand down because Starrk refused to act, he just kind of seemed to shrink in on himself ever so slightly when they berated him. If I remember correctly, Starrk was still somewhat new at the time. He was still adjusting to not being in complete isolation. It would make sense that given the many naturally hostile personalities that occupied Las Noches that he would be a bit shy and self-conscious. After I ordered my fraccion down, they went and stood behind me, no doubt posing and glaring menacingly.

When he walked up to me, he was still a little shrunken from the verbal slap in the face my fraccion gave him. I could see that he was shaking ever so slightly, probably nervous of what kind maniac I might turn out to be. To his credit, when he spoke, his voice was loud, clear and had just the right amount of confidence in it. Not enough to be arrogant, but enough to know that should he feel like it, he could easily take control of any situation and just didn't feel the need to use such a tone at the moment. The conversation was short and awkward. He verbally floundered about gracelessly trying to find a topic to engage me in when all I would give for answers were one word responses or sentence fragments.

I felt a bit sorry for the poor man, but at the time I wanted to be left to my own devices, and had no desire to interact or associate myself with the other imbeciles and lunatics within the ranks of the Espada. After a couple of stifling minutes he picked up on that desire and instead of insulting me, or trying to convince me he was worth my time, he left in a polite and courteous way. It was that defining moment of the conversation that I figured out what kind of man he was and was the reason why I would later tolerate his presence, and listen to him if he had something to say.

I turned my head and observed his face as he rested. He was completely at ease. He breathed in long, deep breathes. It was nice to see him relaxed. Lately, whenever he was awake, his forehead would always be wrinkled because he always seemed to be preoccupied with some thought. Part of me wished that he would just spit it out, and say what he was thinking. Even if it was something trivial, I'd rather he say what he thought and engage in conversation than just be silent all the time at home. I shook my head and broke myself out of my reverie. We were starting to exit the city. The sky was glowing dull violets and yellows as the sun was just starting to rise. It felt as if the world was holding it's breath and everything was still and silent. It was entrancing. The slightest movements, like leaves blowing in the wind, would capture my attention and I would briefly bask in their dance before heading on home. As I neared the house, I looked back on my thoughts during my walk home. One theme seemed kind of prevalent in the shadows of my thoughts. I hated the silence in the house. I missed the constant clamour from Mila Rose, and Apache's constant bickering and Sun-Sun's snide comments. While I wasn't looking for something like that, it would be nice to have a bit more interaction in the house. I looked back down at Starrk.

" _If the idiot isn't going to even initiate conversation, then I'll just have to make the first move._ "

* * *

 **BOOM. There it is. A chapter. And a long one. Does that make up for my leave of absence? I hope so. It was a trip and a half to write. While writing this chapter I listened to a lot jazz to get me in the mood for writing it. It was a nice genre because there were good songs for the softer-ish moments and good ones for the more... tense/angry moments. I also listened to a lot of stuff from the Death Parade soundtrack. Most of the jazz stuff I listened to was from guys like Wes Montgomery and Reign of Kindo, though they're a bit more kinda R &B. The next chapter may not be out for a while since I really need to do some good storyboarding figure out where I want this to go and how I want it to get there. Once that's accomplished, then hopefully the chapters may come out with greater frequency. Thank you all for continuing to support the story. Please don't be afraid to follow it, favorite it (if you feel it is a competent piece of literature), and most ****importantly, to me, leave a review. Let me know what you thought and feel free to give me some constructive criticism. I love hearing from you guys. Good luck to all the students starting the new school year! Best of luck to y'all! The best piece of advice I could possibly give you is don't be afraid to go and talk to people you don't know, some people out there really need a conversation and you could meet some really awesome people. It can be scary, but it's better than to try and fail than to never try at all. Best of luck to y'all and you guys all have an absolutely fabulous day!**


	17. Chapter 17: Forgotten Moments

**Hey, just a little update on the chapter. I was making the next one, and was reading this one to jog my memory on where I left off and noticed some grammatical errors, and it didn't have have enough descriptions to make the mood I was going for. It may still be a bit before the next chapter since I've got to play in a pit band for a little local show and practice goes kind of late, so I ask for a little more of your endless patience. Have a great day!**

 **I don't own Bleach. It is a brand of cleanser, and a manga. The Cleanser is owned by Benno Dorer, George Harad, Nick Vlahos, and Dawn Willoughby. The manga is owned by Tite Kubo. I own neither the cleanser, or the manga**

* * *

 **Halibel P.O.V.**

It had been a couple days since I had resolved to try and improve my relationship with Starrk. So far I had just tried to help out with dishes and make some small talk. Surprise, surprise, no luck yet. A little bit of chat about his students, a little chat about my work, nothing much beyond that. I was planning on taking Starrk out tonight to one of the nightclubs in town. There weren't many in Karakura, and among those there were even fewer that were actually decent places to go to. Eventually, I went to Urahara and Yoruichi to see if they knew about any places we could go. They recommended a place downtown. It was out of the way from hustle of most city streets, as it was in a shadier part of town, but both Yoruichi and Urahara testified to how good it was.

Starrk and I were both home. It was around six at night. We were both sitting in the living room. Starrk was working on tabbing out some music for one of his students, and I was lying on the couch, bored out of my mind. Work had been slow, and everything that needed repairs had been fairly standard, so nothing needed outside work. I looked over to Starrk, and saw those lines in his forehead again. At this rate they were going to become a permanent fixture. I was going planning on going out at a later date when Starrk had his resurrección back as a sort of celebration, but he needed to relax. The man doesn't function well when he's wound up so tight.

I slipped off of the couch and headed upstairs to get changed. Starrk gave me a questioning look to which I responded saying, "We're going out. Get changed." He nodded, put the music away, and headed up behind me.

 **Starrk P.O.V.**

I stood staring at my closet for a good fifteen minutes. I had a small problem. I had been dead for a _long_ time. Things were very different nowadays. I didn't remember much from my past, but what I did know is that we didn't dance anything like today's culture, and we didn't dress like it either. So after debating for fifteen minutes, I chose a simple white button down with the sleeves rolled up, and kept it untucked. Along with it I chose a pair of jeans I had laying around, and some black dress shoes. I had no idea if this was the right way to dress, or not. Hopefully it was going to be alright. I went downstairs to wait for Halibel, but when I got to the stairwell, I could see she was already down, and goddamn did she look fantastic.

Halibel is an attractive woman. She's one of those people who can wake up, and magically look great. I know since we share the same house. But on this night, it was like she cranked her looks up to eleven. Her golden hair seemed to glow in the lighting. She had some makeup on, but one wouldn't be able to tell unless they saw her everyday like I did. She was wearing a black, form-fitting dress, and heels. Simplicity worked for her. She didn't need extravagant makeup, or tons of accessories to look her best, and she knew that. She sighed a bit when she noticed I had been looking a second longer than I should have. I felt a bit of shame since I was the person she would rant to when her coworkers ticked her off because they were ogling her. Though her version of ranting was a couple of passive aggressive threats on their well being once or twice when we walked home together. She always was a woman of few words. I had to try, though, to be a better person. If we were in this situation together, I should be as considerate as possible.

"Is this alright?" I hesitantly asked while gesturing to my clothes.

"Yeah. You'll be fine. You ready to go?"  
"Ready whenever you are." She nodded and we grabbed our coats, and went on our way. I would try to initiate small talk with either remarks about some construction in some part of town, or about the weather. Halibel would hum a response. She'd pitch in with a few topic here or there, and I would give a slight grunt for my response. We're just bad at the small talk. Plain and simple.

When we arrived at the nightclub, there were throngs of people inside. They danced, and drank, and yelled, and drank some more. They danced in a giant mob of hot, sweaty bodies, all pressed against each other. The smell of all the sweat was nauseating. Bright lights of every conceivable color were flashing, and strobing. It was a like a pool of anarchy. Halibel noticed my shocked expression, and maneuvered me over to the bar. I opted for some water since it was unbearably hot, and humid. Halibel got some sort of mixed drink that I couldn't identify.  
"Do you want to dance?" she yelled over the music. I shook my head. I did not need to get involved in that… clothed orgy. She just shrugged, and went out onto the dance floor, assimilating into the mass, and looking like she was having the time of her life. We stayed for several hours. Halibel came back every now and again to see if I wanted to dance with her. I declined every time. She didn't let it show too much, but I could see a hint of disappointment each time. It wasn't that I didn't want to. I didn't know how. Most people would say it's easy to dance, but whenever you ask how they always say to just do it. That doesn't help in any capacity. Despite having musical capabilities, I have no sense of rhythm, or beat. The expression goes that you have two left feet when you can't dance. I have no feet. Each time I'd say no she'd finish the drink she left by me. I would pay for it to be refilled, and asked the bartender for water for her just in case. She never drank that water. So needless to say she was very drunk, when the incident happened. I was sitting at the bar minding my own business when a woman came, and sat next to me. She had long black hair, and a dress that left little to the imagination. At first we were both minding our own business. After fifteen minutes she turned and started talking to me.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before. You new in town?" she slurred. She swayed a bit in her seat, clearly drunk. I nodded. "You here alone?" I shook my head and pointed toward where Halibel was dancing, surrounded by men. "You're with her?" Another nod. "What's she doing over there with those assholes when there's a perfectly good man here?" Noncommittal shrug. I could see where this was going. I did not want to enter that territory. I started to stand up to move away. She pushed me back into my seat with one hand. How one drunk lady was strong enough to do that I don't know. "Ah come on. Don't be like that. I don't bite… unless you want me to," she said suggestively, placing a hand on my thigh. I edged away from her. My eyes darted across the room to Halibel to see if she would be able to come and help. She wasn't on the dance floor anymore. I whipped my head around, not caring that I was displaying all the signs of an animal in distress. The woman was starting to lean into me when two arms came to rest gently on my shoulders. I relaxed knowing that Halibel had indeed come to my rescue. She then gently rested her head on top of mine. The other woman gave Halibel a death stare for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. The last thing I wanted to deal with was a bar fight between two drunk women. My heartrate slowly sped up in anticipation for the fight to come. As suddenly as the confrontation started, so too did it end. The woman got up, muttered a few curses, and went to find her next victim.

"Starrk, what would you do without me?" she mumbled into my ear as moved her head onto my shoulder, and starting to lean her entire body onto my back. I shook a little as her hot breath tickled my ears. Her breath reeked of the pungent stench of alcohol.

"We should get going. You're drunk," I said, trying to ignore her as she pressed her body into mine.

"You're no fun Starrk. Fine, let's go," she said, letting her voice slur. We walked out, and Halibel wrapped an arm around my shoulder to steady herself.

"You know," she said, "I thought you'd enjoy tonight. Sorry."

"It's alright. I appreciate the sentiment," I said, trying not to get distracted by her hands running through my hair, her fingers feeling like a sensual cold shock to my system that contrasted the soothing, warm heat they exuded as they delicately slithered through each lock of hair available to them.

" _She likely won't remember anything tomorrow morning. I'll have to make sure to take her right home, and make sure she doesn't get into trouble,_ " I thought, trying not to let her roving hands muddle my mind.

"It's not alright. You've been really depressed lately, and have been worrying all the time. You always have these wrinkles in your forehead because it gets all scrunched up when you think too hard," she slurred and poked at my forehead.

"It does? I never noticed. Sorry for worrying you. I'll figure something out. Don't worry about me. It's a waste of time, and effort. Take that from someone who knows what is worth effort, and what isn't," I said. At this point she was leaning heavily on me, and had both of her arms wrapped around my shoulders to steady herself.

"Buuuuuuuuuuullllshit," she drawled.  
"What-"

"You were the Primera of the Espada, the strongest member of one of the most terrifying groups Soul Society ever faced. You're strong enough to fight my released form with releasing any of your power, at least for a little while. You-"

"Those are my abilities as a fighter. A person cares about a fighter's physical condition, their mental condition can go to Hell for all anyone else cares for. One cares about a _person's_ mental state. I'm not much of a person. When you've lived in isolation as long as I have, you lose some important traits. My default personality it tired, and drained. I don't sleep because I'm tired. Well-I do, but I'm talking about the other times. I sleep and stay cooped up in my room because I don't want to do the mental gymnastics of trying to talk, and act like an average person," I ranted. The was a pregnant lull in the conversation as we kept walking.  
"I think that's the first time, we've really talked, Starrk," She whispered.

"Sorry that I haven't been a good conversationalist. Or a good friend. Or whatever we are. I just don't want to say anything that would upset you. There's nothing I'd hate more than to screw things up right now."

"It's fine, Starrk. It just takes some time. We never talked much back at Las Noches, and, no offense, your social circle was never wide. This is going to take some work. We're both out our depth, alright?" she said, rubbing my shoulder gently with one of her warm hands, as they whispered over the fabric of my coat in slow circles.

"It's a shame you may not remember tonight given how drunk you are. I'm surprised you're functioning as well as you are," I said. As if on cue, she tripped. I caught her before she fell, and we continued walking, with her releasing laugh that echoed throughout the night air, like a bell struck by angels. It gave me chills. It's a shame she didn't laugh more. Despite the carefree nature it had due to her drunkenness, it still had a darker undertone to it that implied that she could sober herself up at any point. I suppose that was what her laugh was always like. Carefree at the moment, but ready to fight at any given moment. A small part of me hoped that the edge in her voice would eventually leave now that we had a life without combat. We were still cautious and we still trained to stay ready for anything, but it seemed like we were safe. We could eventually wind down. We'd relax, and eventually go our separate ways. Maybe we'd check up on each other every once in awhile until we both had our own lives to contend with. Sadly though, this would be the last night for a good while where I'd have thoughts of peace in my future.

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 **Another several months, another chapter, and right on the end of Boxing Day, _and_ on the third night of Chanukah/Hanukkah. I've realized that it's been around a year since I first started this story. I'm five months late or so, but, hey, happy birthday, story (casual excessive comma use probably). Thanks to you guys who have stuck around, and to those who have listened to my petty whining for attention via favorites, follows and reviews. I really appreciate the support. Its nice to know people like the things I create. When I first posted this story how many people it would be able to reach. People from Germany, Portugal, Spain, that one dude from Finland, Venezuela, France, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Superior Country that is Canada. Y'all are ****abso-fucking-lutely amazing. As an American doomed to suburbia, its amazing that people so far away can view the things I create, and vice versa. Just... damn. Y'all have a happy holidays, and if your holiday has already passed, I hope it went well. Have an absolutely fantastic New Year!**


	18. Chapter 18 Solid Snake Interlude

**First, I don't own Bleach and make no profit off of it. Second, I'm sorry if the formatting for this chapter is bad, but my computer is out for the foreseeable future, and had to release this from my phone. Sorry.**

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It was a beautiful night out. The stars were out, and dotted an immaculately dark sky. A gentle breeze fluttered through the crisp night air. I could faintly hear the various noises from the heart of the city as we got closer to the  
house. We were still about a block away from the house. Halibel was nearly passed out, and was heavily leaning on my shoulder. I had tried to convince her to just let me carry her home. But she was fairly stubborn in her drunken stupor and wouldn't  
have any of it. Her weight leaned onto me comfortably, or rather as comfortably as a smashed woman who hadn't drank in decades, if not centuries for all I knew, could.  
We staggered down the sidewalk, meandering home as a half-asleep Halibel hummed an out of tune melody. However, something felt off. A tingling at the back of my neck making my hairs stand on end. As we got even closer to the house, it  
felt as if there was a blade barely touching my neck. Somebody was near. Someone who had killing intent, and could go off in an instant if they snapped. Nobody in this neighborhood had this kind of spirit. At least, they hadn't released this kind  
of energy before tonight.  
"Knowing our luck, whoever's releasing this reiatsu at our house right now. I need to tell Urahara," I thought. I stopped walking and carefully slung Halibel off of my shoulder, and put her into a sitting position with her  
leaning on my legs. She was out cold now, so whatever happened next, I would have to handle on my own. I searched my pockets for the infernal machine known as a phone. As I have mentioned, modern technology has been a plague upon my being, however  
the one thing Halibel, Urahara, and Yoruichi made sure I knew was how to contact any of them if I got into trouble. After a moment of struggling with the accursed object, I held the phone up to my ear, and it was three tones until Urahara answered.  
"What is it, Starrk? I know you have an aversion to technology so what's the emergency?" Urahara asked as he stifled a yawn.  
"I think we've been found, Urahara. I'm sensing some suppressed reiatsu at my house. It seems like multiple people. Can't tell how many there are, but they're all on edge. It feels as if they are all ready to kill if need be. What  
should I do?"

"Urahara?"  
"... There's not a lot of options that you two have. You and Halibel need to get to the shop as soon as possible. Get here now."  
"Easier said than done. Halibel is out of commission."  
"What happened to her?!" he shouted, panicking.  
"Relax. She decided we needed to get out so we went to a nightclub. She had a bit too much to drink, and is asleep right now."  
"Damn it. I would bet that it's probably Squad 2. I'd doubt they're there for an assassination because of how difficult killing an Arrancar can be. They are probably doing reconnaissance to confirm if Arrancar are actually living  
in Karakura. We don't know how far they are into investigating your house. They could be done any second. Even if you do hide somewhere nearby, and they don't catch you, Squad 2 is too thorough to only survey your home once. If they don't find  
you today, then it will be tomorrow, or the next day, or the next month, or year. They aren't going to just ignore reported sightings of two top tier Espada… Tell me Starrk, do you trust me?"  
I took a moment to respond. Urahara was the puppet master. He could make or break this situation. I could go off on my own with Halibel, but I couldn't afford to lose Urahara as an ally. He didn't strike me as the guy who blindly works  
for a system. He was a force of nature. A real free spirited guy. But that didn't mean he wasn't vastly intelligent. After all, you don't just give two Espada sanctuary for the heck of it. He was playing the long game. If he made questionable  
calls, it was because he was making a gamble, and a man like Urahara isn't a man who just gambles. When he finally lays his cards down, he's done enough cheating and manipulating to put his opponent into a hole they will never climb out of. There  
was no such thing as a true gamble with him. He wouldn't just allow two Espada, some of the strongest spiritual beings in existence, to die for no reason when he risked his own neck to save them. He wanted or needed us for something, therefore,  
he wouldn't fail us.  
"I trust you, Kisuke" I responded. I didn't hear a devilish grin envelop his face. No feeling in my chest like I just sold my soul. He knew this was serious, and that we had to completely trust each other to make sure this  
whole situation resolved in the best way possible.  
"... Alright Starrk, here's what you'll need to do. Keeping going to your house. When you're within a block of it, move as quickly, and stealthily as possible to the side of your house, and keep an eye out for any members of the  
stealth force. Keep your power suppressed as much as possible. While your gigai naturally suppresses your reiatsu, you still exude far more reiatsu awake than sleep, so if the Shinigami are going to sense anyone, it will be you. There's also a  
chance that the Captain of Squad 2 may be there as well if they believe an Espada has taken to living in town. You'll have to hide Halibel in the bushes on the side of your house."  
"That will never work though."  
"I wasn't finished. You'll then have to make a run for it, and when you're a couple of blocks away, leave your gigai somewhere, and text me the address. We don't want the mortal police to think you were murdered or something. When  
that's done, get outside of the city as fast as possible, exude as much reiatsu as you can. You'll attract every Shinigami alive, but that should draw everyone away from Halibel if you're quick enough."  
"Your plan is to get me captured, right? Normally, a few grunts go missing on a patrol, Soul Society would write that off as some run of the mill Hollow that probably got the best of them. However, grunts and a captain go missing  
at a suspected residence of two Espada, there is no way in hell they'd think that's a coincidence. Am I on your train of thought?"  
"A few stations behind, but you're on the right track. Yes, you'll be captured, and from there I'll reveal myself as your benefactor and negotiate your freedom. However, preparations for that powerplay will take time. During that  
time you must not lash out at anyone who may beat or berate you. You mustn't try to escape. Only by showing complete passivity do you and Halibel stand a chance. For now though, do as I have said and nothing more or less. We clear?"  
"Crystal. Goodbye, Kisuke," I said.  
"See you later, Starrk," he said, hanging up with a deafening click that juxtaposed the stillness of the night. I slid my phone in my pocket. With a grunt of effort, I lifted her onto my shoulders in a fireman's carry. I then  
got as close as I could to wall outside of every house on the block, crouching down to further my chances of being undetected. Then I concentrated on lowering my reiatsu even more. It felt like I had covered my body in shackles and been stuffed  
into a box with stale air. The weaker energy was worth it for the added stealth benefits. I then concentrated on detecting reiatsu, since that would be my only likely way of detecting the members of the second squad. I crawled absent-mindedly  
down the street. The only reason I knew I had arrived at Halibel and I's house was the faint feeling of multiple reiatsus inside. I counted three. A small team. Potentially a fourth outside, either outside the front door or on the roof to keep  
watch. I put Halibel down and concentrated harder. Two of the three were moving about in confined spaces above the third, likely searching Halibel and I's rooms. The third remained still on the first floor, likely trying to sense for when I or  
Halibel returned. I lowered my reiatsu even more, doing it slowly so as to not cause a sudden drop of the third person's radar.  
It felt like a chloroform gag had been tied across my mouth. I wasn't used to using stealth. Aizen tended to have me do annihilation missions wherein I would destroy colonies of dangerous, and rebellious Hollows. My resurrección was evidence that  
I was better suited to the task. I effectively had the spiritual power of something less than an insect, and I could feel it. My limbs felt like lead, and holding my eyes open felt as if I was trying to part the sea with just my two bare hands.  
With herculean effort I moved towards the gate to our house, and slowly opened it. I prayed to whatever gods governed the realms that the hinge on the gate would move silently. I held my breath, and felt my legs tense, preparing to run no matter  
the cost should the hinge squeak too loudly, and my cover be blown.  
The gods betrayed me. The damn gate squeaked as it opened just wide enough for me to pass through. I nearly jumped out my gigai, but I kept my reiatsu suppressed, and remained hidden behind the wall that the gate was attached to.. When a couple of  
minutes had passed, and no one had come, I became suspicious. They had to have heard it, yet they chose not to go outside. I was curious, and curiousity has a way of killing. I was willing to take that chance though as I snuck through the open  
gate. However, Halibel took priority over my curiosity. As quietly as I could, I snuck as close to the house as I could, and then made my way towards the side in which several large, leafy bushes were growing. Leaves slid across my face and arms  
as I snuck inside them, igniting an itching sensation from wherever they contacted my body. I reached a point right next to the house where the leaves formed a mini-canopy that would prevent the intruders from spotting Halibel should they search  
outside. Slowly, I took Halibel off my shoulders, and with the utmost care, I layed her on the ground and said a silent prayer to any, and all universal powers for her safety.  
I then went to an army crawl to reach the front of the house while remaining in the bushes. When I found myself in front of the living room window, I carefully peeked up, and saw the intruder who had been stationed in the bottom floor. They stood  
stock still, muscles clenched, and eyes squeezed shut. They were only sensing for reiatsu, and had become to engrossed in that search. They were concentrating so hard they weren't using their other senses. However, that also meant that should  
I even accidently release any excess reiatsu, they would know. I got down in the bushes, crawled out, and quietly made my way out of the yard, not bothering to close the gate behind me. As soon as I was out of the gate I broke out onto a sprint,  
making like a bat out of hell. I could feel myself tiring much faster than normal, my body screaming for me to let go of my constraints, and release my pent up energy. My head pounded with every step, and it felt like my mental shackles were branding  
my skin with their red hot iron as they threatened to melt away if I stressed my body more. I was getting closer.  
One block down. One and a half. My legs were shaking, and were about to mutiny against my will to run. Two blocks. My vision was starting to swim. I had never kept my power this suppressed for such an extended amount of time while doing such strenuous  
activity. As I approached the third city block, my body collapsed, and I went down with a startled yelp. I scraped my hands, and knees on the vicious pavement below me.  
"Shit… that fucking smarts," I growled as I slowly picked myself back up. I looked around for any places I could hide my gigai. None were immediately present. I turned to my right, and looked over the wall around it. Right next to the house  
was a perfect growth of bushes that looked like it would just barely fit my body in. I sclimbed over the wall, and made my way to the bushes. I laid down, and got out my phone to text Kisuke the address. Then I slowly slipped out of the gigai.  
It felt like a breath of fresh air. While I was still suppressing my power, I didn't have the gigai further constraining me any more, making me feel vastly better. When I had fully emerged, I stood up, and as about to make my way towards the wall  
when my gigai's face caught my eye. It's eyes were cold and vacant, mouth slack jawed, and the body was already losing colour at an astonishing rate. It brought shivers to my spine, seeing my own dead body. That's not something everyone can claim  
they've done twice. I shook my head, and walked toward the wall to climb over it again. It was time for the second phase of the plan to begin. 

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**So my computer is out, but I'll still try my best to get these out to you all, and I have to release chapters from my phone now. If that creates any formatting issues, I'm sorry and I can't really change a far busier spring than I originally expected, I'm back should maybe have a couple of chapters for you guys this summer. No promises. So, how 'bout that plot that's finally happening? Only took 17 chapters beforehand to get things rolling. I hope you guys will enjoy the story from here on out, and continue to show your support. Have an absolutely fantastic day!**


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